By: Borislav Miljanović, CEO Represent System
In mid-January, we are still summarizing the results of the work in December last year, which is usually a month full of challenges and a number of obligations for both us and our clients. The majority of clients want to organize an event in that last month of the year. And we’re used to that. Somehow we spontaneously prepare for this pre-New Year madness. As much as it’s hard sometimes, we’re satisfied when it’s all over.
Such was the feeling with the Coca-Cola’s New Year humanitarian caravan, whose goal this year was to collect books for orphans in institutions in 10 towns in Serbia. In addition to donating books, Coca-Cola Company, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Issues of Serbia, at 10 homes for children without parental care renovated a common room and thus gave the children a new place to socialize, learn and play. The whole project was supported by the partners of this New Year’s charitable mission: publishing house “Laguna”, and companies “Canon” and “DexyCo”. Centre for Protection of Children, Infants and Youth in Zvečanska, Institute for Education of Children and Youth in Belgrade, Niš and Knjaževac, Centre for Foster Care and Adoption in Kragujevac and Ćuprija, and homes for children and youth “Miroslav Mika Antić” in Sombor, “Spomenak” in Pančevo, “Veternik” in Novi Sad and “Jefimija” in Kruševac, received the renovated rooms. Around 600 children from these institutions were given gifts, received a visit from the Santa, and of course the books with which to imagine and grow.
We’re even more proud of this collaboration when we learn the results of the campaign that took months to prepare and implement.
Coca-Cola humanitarian caravan lasted two weeks, during which time as many as 30,000 books were collected in 10 cities through which the caravan passed and gathered over 50,000 citizens. It was inspiring, but also wonderful to see packed city squares and a large number of Serbian citizens who responded to this humanitarian mission. Citizens of Belgrade, Sombor, Novi Sad, Valjevo, Užice, Kruševac, Vranje, Niš, Kragujevac and Negotin shared with us the magic of Coca-Cola caravan and helped to make New Year’s holidays quite special for children in these homes.
The whole operation was symbolically completed in the Ulica otvorenog srca (Street of the Open Heart) on 1 January. This was the last stop of the caravan – the end of a great action but also the beginning of a new year, which we hope will bring equally noble and successful projects. We are particularly happy about the statement from our partners from Coca-Cola system, who said that it brought them additional motivation to continue to bring joy in the future, together with citizens of Serbia, because in this case they had the support of many school students, municipalities and cultural institutions. We can also say that already now, at the beginning of the new year, we are ready for new challenges. We believe we will achieve even better results with the same intensity and the same motivation.
