ŠKODA auto helps

ŠKODA AUTO HELPS

A helping hand in difficult times 

Wide range of activities support people affected by the coronavirus pandemic and are still running at full speed

Mobility 

According to NGOs and cities, the 200 cars that the carmaker lent to them in March to get food and medical equipment, among others, to at-risk citizens, have been extremely beneficial. “ŠKODA AUTO offered us two cars, which we’ve used to make deliveries on a daily basis. We deliver groceries and medicine to pensioners. One of our volunteers also brought a client to her doctor”, Iveta Tomšová from the Nomia psychological counselling centre described the situation. Read more stories in the articles on this double page.  

Financial injection

The carmaker supported the surrounding regions with CZK 9 million. The money went to Mnichovo Hradiště, Bakov nad Jizerou, Bělá pod Bezdězem, Benátky nad Jizerou, Vrchlabí, Rychnov nad Kněžnou and, of course, Mladá Boleslav. About CZK 400,000 was invested here to equip public buildings with disinfection stands. Almost CZK 200,000 was given to pensioners and handicapped people, for whom the municipality provided maximum information and prevention. In other cities, purchases for the needy or protective aids were financed with the donation. This money was also used to set up a new information hotline in Mnichovo Hradiště.

The fleet was provided by the carmaker, several ŠKODA dealers and the Uniqway service via the HoppyGo carsharing platform developed by the ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab innovation centre.

Dagmar Hoferková

Volunteer activities coordinator in the ADRA organisation

We really appreciate the support provided by the HoppyGo technology platform. The cars lent to us were used by our volunteer centres’ coordinators to deliver purchases, food, protective equipment and medicine to pensioners, as well as other isolated people throughout the country. This has made our work more efficient. In addition, we are now more mobile in organising other activities, such as cooperating with hospitals or social service facilities.

Jan Bureš

Mayor of Ostrov

There are people among us helping others without claiming any reward. Vladimír Kříž is one of them. He’s been collecting face masks since the beginning of the crisis from almost 25 seamstresses from Ostrov and the surrounding area. He takes them to be washed and disinfected in Ostrov hospital before distributing them to those who need them most. At first, he’d been doing this not only for free but also while using his own car and refuelling it at his own expense. Thanks to ŠKODA AUTO, he subsequently had the opportunity to use a SUPERB COMBI lent to him by the carmaker. In total, he has delivered over 10,000 face masks.

Ondřej Lochman

Mayor of Mnichovo Hradiště  

Immediately after the state of emergency came into effect, we started distributing face masks, respirators, protective shields and disinfectants to those needing them most: doctors, social workers, police officers, firefighters etc. We also provided face masks and disinfectants to seniors, socially excluded citizens and others. ŠKODA AUTO helped us a lot. It provided a total of CZK 1 million to 22 municipalities in the region, and we were given five ŠKODA cars for six weeks. This significantly simplified logistics and allowed us to make quick decisions. Every evening, we light up the town hall with the national colours as a symbolical way of thanking every helper. 

Renata Němcová

Head of Support for Independent Housing at the National Institute for Autism

We’d been using a car we borrowed for field service every day to transport clients who also needed to spend time walking during this difficult situation because of their handicap (autism spectrum disorder). They didn’t manage to stay home and started to feel very bad, which manifested in them attacking their family members or destroying the equipment in their flat. Thanks to the car, a personal assistant and the client could go to a secluded place for a walk in the woods. Thus, we’ve greatly helped the caregivers and their clients.

Police officers save nature

The carmaker supported the Bělá pod Bezdězem municipal police establishment. It equipped the newly established unit with a CITIGOe iV electric car and two factory eBikes. In the current state of the crisis, ŠKODA AUTO helps even more to further increase the population’s safety in the region. Bohdan Wojnar, Board Member for Human Resources Management, and Michal Kadera, Head of SR – External Relations, handed over the pure mobility means to the municipality’s mayor, Jaroslav Verner. The new car will replace the KAMIQ, which the city had borrowed as part of the #SKODAAUTOhelps programme.

500,000

Czech crowns was donated by the carmaker to develop 3D-printed respirators in the laboratories of the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics and Cybernetics (CIIRC)

2,500

3D-PRINTED FACE MASKS WERE SUPPLIED BY THE CARMAKER TO FRONT-LINE PARAMEDICS, FOR WHICH THE MINISTER OF HEALTH THANKED THE COMPANY PERSONALLY

150

VEHICLES CAN BE DISINFECTED WITH FIVE OZONE GENERATORS AT A PRAGUE-BASED PREVENTION STATION

Outdoor activities for children and seniors

The ŠKODA AUTO Endowment Fund supported two activities of the Kolem na kole (Ride around on the bike) association, focusing on the oldest and the youngest generations. The “Help Children to Get on their Feet” project encourages eighth-grade pupils at Mladá Boleslav schools not to be driven by their parents but instead to walk (at least part of the way) to school. Preparation at schools has already begun and will continue with their re-opening when measures against the coronavirus spread are alleviated. The organisers are now looking for volunteers for further activities that may start as soon as the current risks vanish. The international “Cycling for All Ages” project is intended to give pensioners, mainly from nursing homes, the option to take a ride around the city or in nature on e-tricycles. Volunteers are expected not only to take these passengers to places where they spent their youth, for example, but also to talk to them during a calm ride. 

Wanna join this new project and rickshaw-tour with the elderly? 

You can sign up via e-mail kolemnakole@gmail.com.

For health professionals in india

SAVWIPL recently took a number of steps to help tackle the coronavirus pandemic in India. In addition to producing and distributing 15,000 face masks, which we described in the April issue of ŠKODA Mobil, the carmaker provided 10 million Indian rupees to the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune to set up a Covid-19 ward and medicines worth 2 million rupees. The carmaker distributed 35 of thousands of units of hand disinfectant to medical facilities and supported food and ration distribution to people in need. The company has also helped to disinfect police vehicles and played a role in the development of simple automatic breathing equipment and in turning snorkel masks into oxygen masks. SAVWIPL’s employees pitched in by collecting over 11 million rupees to fund 15 full features ventilators and monitors and 4,500 PPE kits to be distributed to hospitals in Mumbai, Pune and Aurangabad.