But who are these Dobromen?! For an explanation we would need to go back in time to the beginning of the European Year of Volunteering 2011...and actually...why not.. :o)
The Program MiNiGRANTs VEOLIA was launched several years ago and thanks to that we have discovered among employees of the Veolia Environnement Group in the Czech Republic hundreds of devoted people who help in their free time wherever they can. Some of them help as rescuers or volunteer fire-fighters, another as environmentalists, leaders of interest groups, lectors, therapists, coaches, clowns, horse riders,... and many others. Dobromen are just excited for making good deeds and they decided to change the world or to help individuals or sometimes even the whole region to live better.
“Knowing this we wanted to appreciate our colleagues and to thank them for their
volunteering. The idea was that volunteerism is similar to the deeds that superman does and therefore we decided to make T-Shirts for our heroes and to create our Dobromen”, says the Veolia Foundation Director Jan Dolínek.
It looks a bit as an exaggeration, but in fact we really appreciate all volunteers that help people in need or who care about the environment.
Sometimes the Dobromen spend several hours at the bedside of patients in hospitals, another time they work hard hundreds of hours a year to revitalize forgotten wells. Hours of trainings and care for the equipment are never counted by volunteer fire-fighters and also people who help individually on their own without any organisation evaluate their deeds modestly. Often you can hear about parents helping kindergartens or family centres to organise various trips or to renovate facilities and rooms designed primarily for children.
“The letter “D” is a symbol for “Dobroman”, for “Děkuji” (Thank you in Czech) and for “Dobro” (the Good in Czech),” says the Veolia Foundation Director.
