SMAY Group Social Responsibility

We are a family business and standards of ethical conduct are very important to us. In accordance with the values we cherish, we have chosen a pro-community way of supporting people in need.

We are involved in countless medical, charity, community and sports projects, and our contribution ranges from small donations to wide-scale involvement. Our activities in this domain are supported by various long-term collaborating entities. A brief overview of only a few projects we are involved in is provided below.

Supporting charities

Dzieło Pomocy św. Ojca Pio (church charity)

In May 2014, the Dzieło Pomocy św. Ojca Pio foundation nominated us to the “Donor of the Year 2014” competition organised by the Charity Development Academy in Poland. For 20 years the Academy has been promoting socially responsible businesses and encouraging others to follow. 65 companies were nominated in the 2014 competition. Our project was awarded in the “Social project–SME” category.

The project involves supporting homeless families by regular (monthly) financing of rent and maintenance of apartments where families, assisted by the foundation’s employees, learn how to live on their own (e.g. budget spending or communication). Supported apartments is a way to leave the system of institutional, interim support and enable living on free-market terms. Homeless persons participating in the project take active part in solving their problems, consult issues with the foundation’s staff and make relevant decisions that best suit their needs. The project has a long time span because we have agreed to make small steps, so that the supported family members start to show a “can-do” attitude and take care of their own lives. The project helped a dozen or so families to gather a starting capital which was used by the project beneficiaries when they moved out of their supported apartments to live on their own in the society.

Other organisations we support

• Fundacja Dzieciom Zdążyć z Pomocą children charity foundation
• Fundacja Pomocy Osobom Niepełnosprawnym SŁONECZKO—foundation of Stawnica, supporting persons with disabilities.
• KŁAPOUSZEK day care, the Parish of Our Lady of the Gate of Dawn,
• Oswoić Los Foundation.
• PIĘKNE ANIOŁY Association.
• PRIMUS DZIECIOM—children charity foundation.
• Society for the Support of Children in Sośnica, with registered seat in Gliwice.
• Pomóż i Ty foundation for the blind and disabled.
• Regional Assistance Foundation for the Blind
• Foundation for the Children of the Grodno Region
• Diagnoza nie wyrok foundation for cancer patients.
• Betlejem charity association.
• SOS Wioski Dziecięce association.

Support for sports activities

We have also been supporting youth sports activities for a number of years.

Our company supports a promising tennis player, Aleksandra Wierzbowska, providing contributions for sports equipment purchase, sports competitions travel fares, contestant fees, accommodation, meals, as well as funding other expenses of the tennis club. In 2012 Aleksandra Wierzbowska won the Polish championship in tennis for juniors.

Another example of our support for athletes is the funding of a training camp for Marcin Łepkowski, the European vice-champion in Muay Thai in Thailand in 2014. In 2015, the fighter from the Krakow Raczadam Fight Team returned to Kraków with the Intercontinental World Muaythai Champion belt (WMC) (martial arts).

Educational institutions

An example of our support for educational institutions is the development of the Fire Ventilation Laboratory at the Environmental Engineering Faculty of the Warsaw University of Technology. It is the outcome of the trilateral cooperation with the Environmental Engineering Faculty and PLUM company. In our joint project, a thorough refurbishment of the new laboratory room and a lecture room was financed, and in particular technical and measuring equipment of the test bench. The laboratory owes its high research and educational value to its new equipment, i.e. modern fire safety air supply units (with latest-generation controls using prediction algorithms), extensive building condition monitoring, data collection and retention systems, as well as many other measuring devices.

We have also provided contributions towards educational visits for university of technology students.