Press Releases

Budapest, June 18, 2012 10:00

On the occasion of the hello holnap! Volunteer Day Magyar Telekom’s employees beautified the environment of 8 children’s institutions. Volunteering has a tradition at the company and for years now various campaigns have been organized to give employees an opportunity to do volunteer work. Last year Telekom’s volunteers made a theoretical volunteer contribution to the society valued at close to HUF 20 million.

On June 16 Magyar Telekom employees and managers took part in volunteer work at two children’s institutions in Budapest and six children’s institutions elsewhere (in Pécs, Székesfehérvár, Debrecen, Szeged and Sopron). More than 200 employees and their family members worked on the occasion of the hello holnap! Volunteer Day doing physical work to beautify institutions engaged in the education and development of the future generation.

“The aim of the hello holnap! initiative we launched in December 2010 is to make the concept of sustainability a part of everyday life in a way that is easy to identify with. I was pleased to see that many of my colleagues joined the Volunteer Day on Saturday and I also took part in it with my family. As I can see our employees are also willing to undertake volunteer work during which they can experience individually and as a team how good it feels to do something for a community. As a company committed to sustainable development we hold it important that Telekom should also use such means to draw attention to the fact that a liveable future is our joint responsibility,” said Christopher Mattheisen, Magyar Telekom’s Chairman-CEO.

Volunteering has a tradition at Magyar Telekom; the company has been organising volunteer actions since 2007 to increase the employees’ social sensitivity. Similarly to previous years, last year, in the European Year of Volunteering, it also offered a possibility to volunteer in the framework of its Jövő/Menő program, which had the target of promoting sustainable development in micro regions at a disadvantage (with the Mezőcsát micro region as its first location), and in its Digital Bridge in Small Settlements program, the aim of which is to raise awareness of the results and possibilities inherent in information and communication technologies, where there is a digital divide. In addition since 2011 Telekom has promoted the expansion of corporate volunteering through the organisation of charity team building events. In the course of the year about 400 Telekom employees carried out volunteer work on 480 workdays (in 3840 hours of work) making a theoretical volunteer contribution to the society valued at close to HUF 20 million.

This year Telekom’s hello holnap! initiative, which popularises sustainability ideas, focuses on supporting sustainable communities. On the basis of an internal survey conducted at the company employees are happy to do volunteer work related to community buildings (kindergarten, school, cultural centre), so this year institutions that care for children at a disadvantage or with disabilities have been selected. On the hello holnap! Volunteer Day employees beautified the environment of 8 children’s institutions by painting, clearing overgrown areas and tidying gardens. And on June 23, Telekom’s volunteers are going to visit the children’s home in Gönc.