On Thursday, December 12, we delivered gifts from the Wishing Tree to the St. Klement Hofbauer Children's Home in Podolínec and to the Center for Children and Families in Košice - Uralská.
Christmas Charity Concert messages
U. S. Steel Košice provides continuous, long-term support to those who are dependent on assistance from others. The culmination of the Company's year-round charitable activity is the now-traditional Christmas Charity Concert.
Support for foster homes
U. S. Steel Košice has been supporting foster homes in eastern Slovakia for 17 years. Nearly all of the foster homes have taken a turn in this program, some of them more than once. In financial terms this support already amounts to nearly 366 000 €.
Every Christmas for the past twelve years the foster home children have written their gift wishes on cards, which Company employees have then fulfilled at Christmas time. The “Wishing Trees” have taken firm root in the steelmakers' hearts, and many of them take it for granted that they bring pleasure at Christmas not only to their own children, but to some foster home children as well.
Assisting young people who have had to leave the safe place of their foster home is the mission of the Halfway Houses. This kind of house has also been set up near the Podolínec Foster Home, based on self-help but with financial support from U. S. Steel Košice as well.
In the first video sequence you could see the kind of surprises prepared by the steelmakers for the foster home children this year, and you could take a look inside the Halfway House at Podolínec.
During the Concert symbolic checks were presented to the wardens of two foster homes and two Halfway Houses.
Support for the families of employees who find themselves in a difficult life situation
Ten families, that means ten different stories, and ten trying ordeals. Some have had to deal with the death of a family member, while others have fought with terminal disease in one of the parents, or are left taking care of a seriously ill child.
Taking people's minds off their difficult situation and providing space for pleasant experiences instead, this is the mission of the project called “We Are With You At The Right Time”, which U. S. Steel Košice has been carrying out for the past six years. In addition, at the end of the year each family receives financial support in the form of a lump sum worth 2000 euros.
In the second video sequence we showed the families involved in the project this year. Several of them sum up their participation in the project, and we took a look at some of the events they took part in during the year.
At the end of the clip we presented the new families being brought into the “We Are With You At The Right Time” project in 2018.
The U. S. Steel Košice Christmas Charity Hut
and support for ArtEst
For twelve years now the Advent Market on Main Street in Košice has featured the U. S. Steel Košice Charity Hut. From December 5 to 22 the steelmaking company provides the opportunity to 18 partner organizations to present their activities to the public, and helps them carry out fundraising for their future development. The organizations presenting their activities and services include foster homes, civic associations for disabled youngsters and adults, and health-care and educational institutions. Each organization has a unique story behind it, with hundreds of hours of beneficial work, and hundreds of children or adults who have benefited from their help. All of these organizations welcome the interest and support from the residents of Košice and visitors to the city. The Charity Hut was open every day from 10 am till 8 pm, staffed by USSK employees and student scholarship holders on a volunteer basis.
In the third video sequence we presented the Christmas Hut on the day of opening of the Košice Christmas market. On this day the young people from the Art-Est civic association were promoting their attractive Christmas decorations, products of the association's activity, which is the polyesthetic education of disadvantaged youngsters.
The symbolic check representing the proceeds from ticket sales for the Christmas Concert was presented to the chairwoman of the civic association by a selected member of the theater audience during the concert.
Announcement of the results
of the employees' fund-raising
This year the employees of U. S. Steel Košice are supporting the East Slovakian Oncology Institute. The symbolic check representing the final sum raised in the traditional end-of-year voluntary collection was presented to the management of the Institute during the concert.
The sum raised by the employees will be matched euro for euro by the company U. S. Steel Košice. The resulting funds are intended for the purchase of a top-quality digital X-ray device which will enable more rapid diagnosis of oncological diseases.
U. S. Steel Košice has organized fundraising for selected health-care institutions 14 times, with the employees, the Company and the U. S. Steel Košice Foundation supporting these institutions with a total sum of more than 1 336 000 €.
The symbolic check was presented by one of the USSK employees who has contributed to the fundraising.
Photo Gallery
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News from community
We supported a project that sees the castle ruin as a valuable habitat.
We donated approximately one hundred tons of waste wood.
We have been supporting the Košice Wheelchair Organization - Independent Life for over twenty years