BUSINESS: 532 PRACTICES
Coca-Cola Hellas is a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company responsible for Greece, Cyprus and Malta, providing strategic consulting services for marketing, promotion, market research, advertising and brand reputation.
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Wishing to express in a tangible way its solidarity towards refugees living in dire conditions, Coca-Cola took a number of initiatives aimed at providing them with immediate relief and support. In response to the increased need for immediate aid, the Company mobilized its employees to gather basic necessities and provided financial support to organizations that are helping refugees. In cooperation with the competent entities and NGOs, Coca-Cola established an inventory of the products and other basic necessities needed by refugees and proceeded to meet these needs through corresponding donations.
Refugees on the island of Lesvos, the greater area of the Northern Aegean Sea, as well as certain areas in Athens and, more specifically, the former East Airport in Hellinikon.
Coca-Cola has supported refugees by means of four successive donations, made from October 2015 to the present day, and is continuing with similar activities.
Starting in October 2015, Coca-Cola has made four successive donations to this day, in cash and in kind, to entities and NGOs, aimed at providing refugees with substantial support in terms of access to goods they urgently need. More specifically, through the Hellenic Red Cross, the Company offered products (water, fruit juice and soft drinks) to cover the food needs of refugees in Lesvos. The Company also donated €40,000 to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), to be used to purchase the solar-powered light bulbs and the blankets needed in the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Leros.
Then, with the valuable contribution of its personnel, Coca-Cola gathered basic necessities and also purchased products, which were forwarded through the Hellenic Network for CSR (CSR Hellas) to the NGOs “ARSIS”, “METADRASI” and “PRAKSIS”. Finally, with the aid of the LAVEyou volunteer project, in November 2016 the Company organized a volunteer event for its personnel in the Hellinikon area. More specifically, the employees helped organize the warehouses where clothing stock of the Hellinikon Refugee Shelter is stored, while the Company offered to the Shelter basic necessities and hygiene products worth approximately €11,000.
The donations made by Coca-Cola and its collaboration with the 7 aforementioned entities provided tangible support for thousands of refugees. Although the exact number of people who benefited from the Company's donations cannot be determined, we mention indicatively that the in-kind donation to the Red Cross helped cover the needs of 15,000 people in Lesvos, while the donation to the Office of the UNCHR helped cover the needs of approximately 5,000 people on the islands of Lesvos, Chios and Leros.
The initiative was meant to cover areas where refugees are sheltered in Greece, focusing on the island of Lesvos and the other islands in the Northern Aegean Sea, which received the biggest wave of refugees.
Given the multiple needs on several fronts, in its effort to support the refugees Coca-Cola worked together with a number of bodies and NGOs, in order to cover the needs of as many refugees as possible.
The Company’s partners in this venture were the following:
All the employees of Coca-Cola, highly sensitive to the refugee crisis, contributed personally to the Company’s initiatives and, with their donations, supported its activities. More specifically, they donated basic necessities, as well as money, which was used to purchase products after consultation with the NGOs.
The employees also participated in the Volunteer Event in aid of the refugees in the Hellinikon area, where they helped organize the warehouses where clothing stock of the Hellinikon Refugee Shelter is stored.
The main benefit for an organization like Coca-Cola, when taking and implementing initiatives of this kind, is the mobilization and sensitization of its employees and the way in which they come together in response to major social issues, setting an example and encouraging social solidarity in practice.
No Connection with Global Goals found
