At Hotrema, we encourage our employees to get involved in volunteer initiatives and devote their time to meaningful work. This is an opportunity to contribute to the well-being of the environment and our communities, while also spending time with colleagues in a different setting, strengthening our bonds and fostering cooperation.
One such initiative, which has become a tradition, is the volunteer work carried out by the Project Management Department team at Žemaitija National Park. There, our colleagues helped maintain the surroundings of Gardų Ozas: they cleared the slope, trimmed bushes and cut grass, tidied up the pond’s shore and the access path to the water, and cut down reeds. The team also tidied up and cleaned the heart-shaped island in the pond—its shape is now clearly visible again.
Initiatives like these are an integral part of our social responsibility. Through our volunteer work, we aim not only to protect the environment but also to strengthen our ties with the communities where we live and work. We believe that meaningful work begins with our own desire to contribute.
What do such initiatives offer the employees themselves? Our colleagues share their experiences and thoughts on volunteering.
“Volunteering gives me a sense of purpose—it feels good to devote my time and effort to what matters to others, and to know that through my work I can contribute to meaningful change. And volunteering alongside my colleagues is even more fun because I’m a people person. It’s a great opportunity to get to know people from other teams better, strengthen our bonds, and realize that even though we do different jobs every day and sometimes even speak ‘different languages,’ we’re still one team. Activities like these remind us just how much we can achieve when we work together,” shares staff coordinator Rugilė Monkutė.
“I have very fond childhood memories of family work parties, when a large group of relatives would gather to work on the farm. Afterward, as we sat under a tree for lunch, we felt not only the well-earned exhaustion but also a sense of pride in how much we had accomplished together and how much joy we had brought to others.”
Today, when so many decisions are accompanied by the question “Is it worth it or not?”, I sometimes miss that feeling of being able to do something good for another person or the community of my own free will, simply for the sake of saying “thank you.” Volunteering brought that feeling back. We accomplished a lot together in just one day, and as we worked, we interacted, got to know each other better, and saw our colleagues in a whole new light. At the end of the day, we felt we’d made a meaningful contribution and were happy. Perhaps that’s what true team building really is,” says Darius Šokaitis, head of the Project Management Department, speaking about the meaning of volunteering.
“As a newcomer to the company, volunteering with my colleagues helped me get to know everyone better and feel like part of the team much more quickly. That day, we not only did good work, beautified our surroundings, and contributed to our shared well-being, but we also strengthened our bonds with one another. I believe that volunteering is both meaningful work and a great step toward building a stronger team and achieving better results together,” says Vilius Bočkus, project portfolio coordinator, explaining what volunteering means to him.
