On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth, volunteers from Lek, a Sandoz Company, raised more than 25,000 Euros for Children’s Helpline

On Friday, April 12, an event on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth was held in Cankarjev dom in a very positively charged atmosphere, where some well-known Slovenes described the hardships they faced themselves when growing up and how useful a children’s helpline such as TOM Telephone would have been to them.

TOM is a helpline for children and youths who face the challenges and pitfalls of growing up as well as for those at risk who may experience all kinds of difficulties and problems.

Throughout the event, a phone line was open to raise funds for the TOM helpline. The calls were answered by our associates – volunteers who helped raise more than 25,000 Euros.

»We have a long-term partnership with the Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth and we have gladly decided to help them celebrate their remarkable 60 years of operation. As a part of Novartis Global Volunteer Day, 12 associates volunteered to help in the call center. Raising funds and chatting to people of good will and good intentions is a wonderful experience, so that once again, as in all other projects that we co-create together with Friends of Youth, we enrich ourselves,« said one of the volunteers, Miran Šinigoj, an associate of Information Technology from Lek, a Sandoz company.

About Lek’s partnership with SAFY

Lek, a Sandoz company, has been cooperating with the Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth for many years. Of key importance is their partnership in the Wink at the Sun humanitarian campaign that Lek and SAFY have been jointly creating for nearly 15 years. Furthermore, Lek works hand in hand with SAFY on the occasion of Child’s Week which is held every first week in October and supports the organisation of gathering of history club mentors.

The aim of the »A Wink at the Sun« humanitarian campaign is to enable free organised holidays for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. To date, more than 1.5 million Euros were raised and nearly 9,000 kids enjoyed free holidays.

In all the years of co-creating the Wink at the Sun, we allocated over 200,000 Euros to this humanitarian campaign and organised 22 Lek Sunshine games. This is a special fun event which makes the children’s summer holidays even brighter. Namely, we wanted to offer the children vacationing at SAFY holiday resorts something more than merely financial support. Therefore, together with SAFY, we created the Sunshine games (today Lek Sunshine games) which have been held twice a year since 2001, in order to further brighten the children’s holidays.