This is 100 tons more than in the first half of 2019 and 34 tons more than in all of 2018.
All collected items are given free of charge to people who find themselves in difficult life circumstances today. The main recipients of this assistance include, in particular, the homeless, residents of boarding schools and geriatric institutions, hospice patients, etc. In addition to clothes and shoes, you can also leave books, bedding, and other household items for them. These items do not necessarily have to be new or in perfect condition; the main thing is that they are usable and can still serve other people.
To collect used items, the OKKO network has been installing special containers at its gas stations for the eighth consecutive year, where every customer stopping by for fuel can also leave a bag of items. Such containers are already available at 23 gas station complexes of the network in 6 cities of Ukraine – Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Mariupol. The project is implemented in cooperation with volunteer associations that pick up used items from gas stations, sort them, and distribute them free of charge among those in need. Currently, OKKO's partners include such public organizations as “Emaüs-Oselia,” “Ukraina bez mezh,” “Dobryi samarianyn,” and “Pomohaemo.”
“Containers at gas stations are three in one: a new life for old items, support for the socially vulnerable, and an opportunity for each of our customers to contribute to charity and help others. Such a combination of efforts of business, volunteers, and ordinary citizens better than any words promotes the ideas of solidarity and mutual assistance in Ukrainian society, and thus makes it more sensitive and humane,” says Yaroslava Poliakova, head of the corporate communications department of the OKKO network.
