MERIS is the recipient of award for corporate volunteering in 2014. The awards were presented on December 16th, 2014 to companies that have helped the community after the floods.

The organizers of the awards were Responsible Business Forum and Smart kolektiv, and the winners were Erste Bank, Societe Generale Serbia, Coca-Cola system, Philip Morris, Lafarge, Delta Holding and others. This year’s award is dedicated to companies that enabled employees to use their time, knowledge and skills in the elimination of consequences of floods in Serbia. Awarding was organized at the residence of the Swedish Ambassador Christer Asp.

Although MERIS donation was not the largest in terms of volume, MERIS was able to provide direct help where it was needed the most. MERIS experts reacted immediately when there were floods, because they were aware of the necessity of removing large amounts of water from areas affected by the floods, particularly from mines. They have taken the initiative and contacted the Embassy of Sweden to request the assistance in donation and installation of three drainage pumps in the affected areas. The company has already established business relationships with organizations that needed help, allowing them to quickly engage in action. In addition, MERIS experts realized that the larger capacity pump was urgently needed and offered their assistance in obtaining the pump, if additional funding was provided. In cooperation with the OSCE mission, the Swedish government has managed to provide the required 20.000 euro in the short term. The result of this action is that the pumps were of great help in draining water from the important sites, such as a mine in Kolubara.

Company’s activity is the innovative example of the modern corporate social responsibility:
• Doing what you are best at – using company’s knowledge of their business as well as customer needs, providing not only funds, but also the expertise and equipment.
• Knowing whom you are doing it for: identify a specific problem that needs to be resolved (and that it does not fall into the general charity work).
• Knowing with whom you can do implementation: a partnership with other organizations in order to achieve a better result.