Improvement of living conditions in local communities

Pomoc to Moc [Helping is Power]

PZU as a socially responsible company is aware that the best way to respond to the needs of local communities is to give the initiative back to them. By addressing the Helping is Power prevention campaign directly to them, it encouraged communities to define the needs existing in their surroundings. It also provided them with a tool to take action for the common good.

The “Helping is Power” campaign was launched in March 2018 and was continued in 2019. PZU gave local communities the initiative to influence improvements in safety and health in the local community. Inhabitants cooperated with non-governmental organizations increased their engagement in order to identify the needs existing in their communities and had the opportunity to act for the common good in line with the slogan of the “Healthy and safe family” campaign.

In 2019, the Helping is Power campaign had more than 4 million beneficiaries and local communities received co-financing of more than PLN 3.7 million, to be used for local activities aimed at improving safety and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

The additional direction of this prevention campaign was that support was organized for voluntary fire brigade units. As a result, the units had the chance to apply for funds to purchase specialized rescue equipment.

The total co-financing amount provided to the firemen was over PLN 5 million. The aid was awarded to 306 Voluntary Fire Brigade units, which were equipped with specialist equipment, including:

• technical rescue equipment: hydraulic units, shears, arm spreaders, column spreaders, scissor-spreaders, hydraulic sets for breaking down doors and/or for cutting pedals;
• first aid equipment: PSP R1 medical sets, orthopedic boards, AED defibrillators;
• equipment for fighting the effects of weather anomalies: petrol chainsaws, rescue saws, petrol cutters, pumps and motorized pumps, power generators, lighting masts.

Volunteerism

The employee volunteerism program has been in operation in PZU since 2012 and it is enjoying ever greater interest among employees. The PZU Foundation coordinates the nationwide and regional volunteerism programs while the domestic Employee Volunteerism Coordinator collaborates on an ongoing basis with PZU’s Regional Volunteerism Leaders.

In November 2019, a training course for PZU Regional Volunteerism Leaders was held in Chorzów. The focus was on overcoming fear through activities to the benefit of the ill, in particular children. It was a time to get to know each other, for leaders to integrate and to acquire new knowledge and new skills.

During the training, leaders took part in the volunteerism campaign organized in cooperation with the Iskierka Foundation. Christmas trees were built in three locations at the same time – at the John Paul II Upper Silesian Child Health Center, John Paul II Upper Silesian Child Health Center, Prof. Stanisław Szyszko Independent Public Clinical Hospital No.1 and in the office of the Iskierka Foundation. Volunteers helped the sick children in drawing, painting, cutting, forming colorful ornaments, which they later hanged on a green Christmas tree that they painted green together.

Every year the PZU Foundation organizes two editions of the contest entitled “Volunteerism means the joy of action” in which grants are awarded to employees in amounts up to PLN 5 thousand to put their ideas into action. Every employee who would like to get involved in helping others and exert an impact on his or her surroundings can submit an application. The detailed contest rules are laid down in the Rules and Regulations that are in force in PZU and PZU Życie.

The PZU Group’s Employee Volunteerism Rules and Regulations are in force in PZU and PZU Życie.

“It was very interesting and surprising. I still got strong reflections until today. I was able to face something that I had never seen and I had never even thought of approaching a subject like that. So I tore down the wall that I built through my own internal fear. For me, that was the training of my life. I already know that I made memories that will stay with me forever. For me, the most important thing was that I encountered something that I had never experienced, something that I feared and I had never thought about during my worst moments.”

Agata Pytlas, Regional Volunteer Leader Opole, Operation Center Opole, PZU

“When I come back from our meetings, I am filled with amazing, positive energy!
I read a quote somewhere that fits our situation and the people that we helped over the weekend:
“Because life is not about weathering a storm. It is about learning how to dance in the rain.”



Mateusz Piekarski, Regional Volunteer Leader Lublin, Real Estate Department, PZU and PZU Życie

  “I highly value the training courses offered by the PZU Foundation. I expanded my knowledge, but I'm still going through the next stages of my feelings. Experience, joy, reflection, emotion, distance to many things – those are the feelings that I had for this year’s campaign. The subject was difficult but the area is definitely worth learning about. In the hospital, in the cancer ward, I got to meet wonderful kids who, though weakened by the disease, are amazingly joyful and feisty, like all children. Talking to other leaders always inspires me as a volunteer, a professional and as a human. I am really glad that I was able to meet such amazing people on my path: RLW, people from Iskierka, the kids and their very brave parents.”

Renata Zbrojewska, Regional Volunteer Leader Opole, Operation Center Opole, PZU

Selected examples of employees’ volunteerism activities in 2019¹:

• PZU volunteers from Dąbrowa Górnicza teamed with professional divers to organize practical workshops on safety on frozen bodies of water. They taught how to actively and safely spend time playing winter sports.
• Beneficiaries of the Foundation for the Compatriot received a unique chance to take a peek in the world of new technologies and innovation and how they are used in business, on the example of the PZU Group. Employees of the Sales Efficiency Office, HR Management Office, IT Management Office, IT Systems Development Office shared their experiences and competences with young students with technical majors.
• Teenage footballers from the “Celsium” Skarżysko-Kamienna Student Sports Club broke away from electronic reality for four days, by participating in the “Świętokrzyskie by Bicycle with No Phone” rally organized by PZU volunteers. The young people also learned the principles of road safety, first aid and bicycle construction.
• PZU volunteers also organized an inter-generational painting workshop on the Opole market.
  

  

  The “Paint the world for me” project was implemented together with the Senior’s Center and schools and kindergartens in Opole. All the works created during the happening were exhibited in various institutions in Opole: in the City Hall, Senior’s Center, care facilities, PZU branch and the main railway station.
• Under the project entitled “Passable shelter – from friends from the PZU Foundation” a road was built in a homeless animals shelter in Korabiewice.
  

  

  Volunteers built a portion of a communication route: they purchased gravel and rubble and then prepared the substructure. They also helped with the work in the barn and in the stable. Everyone took part in the workshops with a shelter employee and dogs to learn the language of animals and become more sensitive to their needs. At the end, in line with the zero waste philosophy, they made toys that were subsequently sold during the open day in the shelter.
• “Package for an animal” is a project implemented by Alior Bank in Warsaw, Krakow and Gdańsk. During tailoring workshops, volunteers made 110 beds and five scratchers for homeless animals. 41 people took part in three workshops that lasted 7 hours. Additionally, as part of a collection organized for homeless pets, 600 kg of food and snacks were collected, 200 blankets and towels and numerous toys, leashes and collars.
• Everybody knows that activity is healthy, especially outdoors. No-one needs convincing that healthy family is a happy family. That was the starting point for PZU volunteers from Milicz, who executed the project entitled “Active, safe, creative holidays with PZU”. They organized various activities, among others a kayaking trip, family sports competitions, crafts workshops. There was something for everybody. They also delivered a talk on safety close to water.
• “Without Barriers” was a project of PZU volunteers from Elbląg, addressed to all those who have place in their hearts for empathy, integration and fun together.
  

  

  In June 2019 they organized an innovative integration event in Piastowo near Milejewo. There was a beach volleyball, table tennis and horseshoe throwing contests. The competition was attended by people with different disabilities, people on wheelchairs as well as healthy individuals. Within the project’s framework they additionally organized the 2nd Squash Integration Tournament. The aim of the tournament was to verify the skills acquired so far. It was a reward for the past results in the area of life and sports skills and, what is the most important, social integration, breaking of barriers and stereotypes. Competition in such conditions creates an opportunity for rehabilitation through sports.

• Kindergarten in Lubaczów received a new motor and speech development room.
  

  

  Volunteers from PZU adapted the room to therapeutic purposes, renovating it from grounds up: applying plaster, installing gypsum boards, suspended ceiling and painting the walls. The last stage was to lay down the flooring panels and equip the room.
• PZU volunteers from Wrocław renovated a village community hall room in Sulistrowice. After the renovation, the room became a multi-functional, multi-media room with appearance of an industrial loft. Plaster was removed and clinker bricks were cleaned. A sound amplification system and new lighting was installed in the ceiling. The ceiling, window trimmings and walls were painted. ISO type chairs, low seats, projector stand and sound system were also purchased.
• In 2019 Alior Bank became the strategic partner of the zaczytani.org Foundation.
  

  

  The Bank joined its partner’s campaign entitled “Great Collection of Books”. It is a nationwide social campaign, which is supported by both private individuals (as donors) as well as institutions such as kindergartens, schools, offices, museums (as collection points). The bank’s employees were not the only ones who became involved in the great collection of books; 100 branches played a role of open collection points, where anyone could bring books donated for the purpose of the campaign. Approximately 36 thousand books were donated to the Foundation, which passed them on to hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, orphanages and other institutions. When Alior Bank’s branches joined the “Great Collection of Books” initiative, the campaign was able to expand from 7 to 77 towns across Poland.
• As part of the “Zaczytana Akademia” initiative carried out together with the zaczytani.org Foundation, nearly 100 Alior Bank’s employees took part in fairytale therapy training and became certified “fairytale educators”. They regularly go to hospitals delivering fairytale therapy activities for children; in addition to reading, they discuss what they read, organize games, exercises and spend time with the sick children. The bank’s volunteers who were at the same time fairytale educators took part in the Polish Language Festival under the patronage of Alior Bank. During the Festival, they joined the members of the Foundation to run fairytale education activities and workshops for the youngest participants of the festival, as well as educational activities for their parents.
• Alior Bank was also the initiator of the “Give a gift” campaign – a holiday initiative where employees responded to the needs and dreams expressed in letters written by the charges of the Bank’s social partners. More than 1,300 people were involved in the campaign. The gifts were presented to over 360 people from 19 different organizations named by the employees.

¹ In 2019, employees implemented a total of 109 initiatives