“We Can – We Care”: Playing Basketball with and for our fellow citizens with disabilities, along with Crowdfunding for a Special School in Kavala.
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BUSINESS: 532 PRACTICES
Established in 2007, Energean is a London Premium Listed FTSE 250 (LSE: ENOG) and Tel Aviv (TASE:אנאג) Listed E&P company with operations in eight countries across the Mediterranean and UK North Sea. Since IPO, Energean has grown to become the leading independent, gas-focused E&P company in the Eastern Mediterranean, with a strong production and development growth profile. The Company explores and invests in new ideas, concepts and solutions to produce and develop energy efficiently, at low cost and with a low carbon footprint. Energean's production comes mainly from the Abu Qir field in Egypt and fields in Southern Europe. The company's flagship project is the 3.5 Tcf Karish, Karish North and Tanin development, offshore Israel, where it intends to use the newbuild fully-owned FPSO Energean Power, which will be the only FPSO in the Eastern Mediterranean, to produce first gas, commencing mid-2022.With a strong track record of growing reserves and resources, Energean is focused on maximising production from its large-scale gas-focused portfolio to deliver material free cash flow and maximise total shareholder return in a sustainable way. ESG and health and safety are paramount to Energean; it aims to run safe and reliable operations, whilst targeting carbon-neutrality across its operations by 2050.
Preparation: Three months.
Execution: Three hours.
Energean is a London-based oil and gas exploration and production company.
But mostly, Energean is a company that consistently demonstrates its sensitivity towards the lives and the difficulties that our fellow citizens with problems in movement have to face every day.
On December 19th, 2018, with the moto “We all can, we all care”, we played Basketball in Wheelchairs for a good cause and we said “NO” to the social exclusion of people with disabilities. It was a great night in Kavala, where Energean’s Prinos producing assets are located. Energean - Kavala BC, a basketball team which is supported by Energean, and was competing in the 2018-2019 A2 Men’s National Basketball Championship, along with Friends played Wheelchair Basketball with A.O. Kavala Wheelchair Basketball Club.
Energean’s CEO Mr. Mathios Rigas along with other company executives participated in the game, and the proceeds were donated to A.O. Kavala Wheelchair Basketball Club.
During that unforgettable and successful event that was attended by a massive audience of Kavala:
Energean - Kavala BC played also two more games: one with its basketball academies and another with well-known citizens of Kavala who also wanted to convey a strong message against social exclusion, so they joined our efforts.
Energean honored three great Paralympic athletes from Kavala. Anthi Karagianni and Alexandra Dimoglou, two ladies who have won dozens of medals representing Greece in the Paralympic Games, as well as Makis Nikolaidis, an acclaimed basketball player.
For the Event, and in accordance to our philosophy, our company established a crowdfunding project the proceeds of which were allocated towards the needs of the Kavala School of Special Vocational Education and Training (the Kavala EEEEK), at Nea Karvali, Kavala, Greece. The purpose of the fundraising was the creation of a multi-sensory room for students in the autism spectrum, as well as for children with learning difficulties, hyperactivity or other neurological development disorders. The room is called Snoezelen Therapy Room - Room of Multi-Sensory Treatment, and now days it is ready and in use by the school’s students.
A few words about the School
The School of Special Vocational Education and Training of Kavala (the Kavala EEEEK) is a Secondary Education Public Specialized School for students between 14 and 22 years of age, graduates of a general or specialized elementary school, with special learning difficulties and educational needs. This year, there are 37 students attending the School, in small group classrooms.
EEEEK aims to provide the students with all the necessary skills for the transition to adulthood.
As Energean, we serve the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals and we will continue working for zero social exclusion of any person with disability.
The game had more than 500 spectators and most of them had never watched a wheelchair basketball game before. These people witnessed, first hand, the difficulties our fellow citizens with disabilities have to face, but most importantly, the special gifts they can possess in sports. Specifically, they realized that being an athlete while sitting on a wheelchair is a very difficult task.
The game, by having wheelchair athletes as the protagonists, “promoted” inclusiveness with its qualitative results to include the messages of “Respect” and “Diversity”. Everyone (participants and spectators) realized that the needs of people with disabilities are not only the intellectual progress but also the physical one. They should be able to live and exist in a society that they can perform any everyday activity.
It is important to stretch that the game was broadcasted live on "Center" Channel, and one can still watch it on “You Tube”. In general, the message reached the wider social community with a Press Conference, Advertising Spots, and Press Releases.
The game took place on Wednesday, December 19th, 2018, at 17:30, at Kalamitsa Indoor Gym, "Alexandra Dimoglou", in Kavala. That same day, at the Indoor Gym’s entrance, there was a Christmas Bazaar from the Kavala ΕΕEEK.
Energean’s Top Management and Employees from Athens, London, and Kavala.