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Volunteers Help Klokánek

Mowing the lawn, tidying the storeroom, painting and gardening. This work awaits nine volunteers – employees of the Czech pharmaceutical company Pfizer – at the Fund for Vulnerable Children (FOD) Klokánek in Štěrboholy, Prague. Within the framework of a special Pfizer project, entitled “I’m a Volunteer”, volunteers spend their working day helping Klokánek.

"We are grateful for the volunteers. Klokánek is quite large, so every helping hand in its upkeep is welcome,” said Jan Vaněk, the head of FOD Klokánek in Prague’s Štěrboholy district, where 38 children now live. According to Jan Vaněk, corporate volunteering has flourished recently. “Two years ago it was a rarity, now more companies are coming to help us,” Vaněk stated.

Thursday’s “brigade” was by no means the first nor the last for Pfizer employees. So far this year, volunteers have helped FOD Klokánek in Ústí nad Labem and also the Sue Ryder Home in Prague, which focuses on support for the elderly. In all, 25 people signed up for the summer volunteer days. Pfizer launched its internal “I’m a Volunteer” project this year.

“We called on employees for voluntary work and we are pleased that, despite their great workload, so many expressed an interest. In the space of two months we have organised three volunteer days and that’s definitely not the end of it: in autumn we are planning another round of volunteer days," said the project’s head, Pfizer’s Tamara Stanisavljevičová.

Pavlína Prášková from Pfizer takes part in the volunteer activities regularly. “I like to swap a working day at the office for practical assistance that will help to improve the environment for children who, for various reasons, cannot live with their own family,” said Pavlína, who has already completed volunteer activities with colleagues, for instance, in the form of accompanying seniors on a pre-Christmas tour of Prague. “I seek inspiration for similar projects from my surroundings and I’m so glad that the company I work for has an active approach to this form of civil assistance.”

Voluntary work is a natural part of Pfizer’s culture throughout the world. In the Czech Republic, Pfizer decided to assist the three groups that most need help, those being children, the elderly and the sick. It chooses non-profit organisations working in these areas that need assistance. “Volunteers from the “I’m a Volunteer” project like going wherever their work benefits a good cause, so they welcome any non-profit association that comes to them with a specific offer,” added Tamara Stanisavljevičová.

Contact for journalists:
Mgr. Markéta Pudilová, marketa.pudilova@mhw.cz, 00420 736 487 837