The year behind us, although challenging in every way, showed us something beautiful and comforting – we are not alone even in the most difficult moments
In the fight against the pandemic that hit the whole world, we had, and still have heroes who take care of us, our medical workers. Apart from them, other people took care of the community in their own way, such as large companies that are aware that caring for the environment in which they operate is their duty, but also a privilege. One of those is certainly the company NIS, so it is worth mentioning some of the examples of assistance that our oil giant showed to everyone who needed it in the last year.
Fuel assistance
Reacting quickly at the onset of the pandemic, NIS provided 270 tonnes of aviation fuel to the national airline Air Serbia to deliver medical equipment and transport Serbian citizens who found themselves abroad during the state of emergency. In order for the heroes of today to work unhindered, Gazprom Neft, the majority shareholder of NIS, provided fuel for the needs of public services – ambulances, the Serbian Army, the police and firefighters.
Assistance to health institutions and children shelters
As a sign of support for health workers who are fighting the pandemic in the Clinical Centre of Serbia and the new hospital in Batajnica, NIS donated 500 sets of surgical uniforms, while for several other COVID hospitals, in cooperation with UNICEF, NIS donated a total of 56 oxygen flowmeters. The Clinical Centre of Vojvodina and NIS assigned a passenger vehicle for the transport of mothers and babies to health care institutions. Furthermore, NIS donated non-carbonated water Jazak to patients and staff in the Clinical Centre of Serbia, KBC Zvezdara, KBC Bežanijska Kosa, the Dr Dragiša Mišović Hospital, Special Hospital for Lung Diseases Dr Vasa Savić from Zrenjanin and the makeshift COVID hospital in Belgrade Arena. Even though this year the sole focus was on the fight against the pandemic, NIS thought of the children at shelters. This year, traditionally, the company provided personalized Christmas packages for children from shelters in Belgrade, Novi Sad and Kragujevac, as well as schools for children with developmental disabilities in Belgrade, Pančevo and Niš.
Volunteer campaigns
NIS Volunteer Club, which has over 1,000 members who are actively involved in the planning, devising and implementing numerous volunteer campaigns, demonstrated its humanity in action in 2020 too. NIS volunteers spent over 2,000 volunteer hours, and their actions were aimed at supporting the most vulnerable categories of the population, i.e. people over the age of 65, whom these charitable individuals helped with buying groceries, taking care of their pets and much more. Also, volunteers made cotton face masks, as well as visors for medical workers. To deliver the Jazak water to health institutions as soon as possible, volunteers were engaged in preparing packages with water. Members of the NIS fire brigade from Kikinda joined the campaign of disinfecting public areas in this town. Volunteer activities also took place inside the company to nurture mutual support and solidarity among NIS employees. Every NIS employee had the opportunity to contact members of the Volunteer Club via email, Skype or phone, and exchange knowledge, skills, recommendations and advice on activities during the curfew. Online acting classes and online salsa classes for beginners were held for the children of NIS employees.
NIS’ comprehensive assistance, from financial support to daily volunteer activities, has shown that in the time of the general crisis we are facing today, it is very important to be united and to be heroes who are guarding heroes.