Coca-Cola Hungary helps refugees from Ukraine with 120,000 bottles of beverages, financial donations and volunteer work

Coca-Cola Hungary and the Hungarian Red Cross have been working together for years to make life easier for people living in deprivation as much as possible. We have been working together for more than 12 years in a strategic partnership, and over the past two years our efforts have focused on the coronavirus outbreak and the humanitarian disaster caused by the war in Ukraine.

On 24 February 2022, a war broke out in neighbouring Ukraine. During the past months, more than 10 million people have fled their home country to seek refuge across Europe. More than one million refugees have arrived in Hungary so far. A unique collaboration of NGOs, companies and civilians formed to help them.

In addition to helping Hungarians in need, the Hungarian Red Cross has been involved from the beginning in the care of people arriving in Hungary from Ukraine. Since the outbreak of the war, the humanitarian organization has delivered items such as camp beds, blankets and sanitizers to designated reception centres in the east of the country. Later, they helped 3-5 thousand refugees per day at the train stations and set up refreshment points. To this day, aid workers are still involved in providing food to the refugees, and supporting them with information, first aid, psychosocial assistance and tracing services in the event of a break in family contacts.

After the partnership of the past years, including the support provided during the coronavirus pandemic, it was only natural that Coca-Cola Hungary would join the humanitarian organization's relief work and logistics in this case as well. In recent months, the beverage company has supported the work of the organization in the Ukraine crisis with HUF 37 million financial donation, 120 000 bottles of products and the voluntary work of around 50 colleagues.

The volunteers of Coca-Cola Hungary helped with the logistics, distribution and collection of the donations, ensuring that the supplies reached their destination and the refugees were provided with continuous care. The enthusiastic corporate volunteers spent more than 76 hours providing humanitarian help during their working hours or beyond. Coca-Cola Hungary believes it is important to give refugees adequate amounts of mineral water, which is essential for hydration, fruit juices for vitamin supplementation and carbonated soft drinks to replenish the energy burnt during the long journey. In the summer heat, the company also set up a fridge in Csengersima to give cold refreshments to the people, mainly women and children, who travelled long distances.

The Hungarian Red Cross can count on the help of Coca-Cola Hungary for many years, both through donations and volunteer work. For its outstanding support to the organization, Coca-Cola Hungary received a certificate from the Hungarian Red Cross on 30 August.

Watch the video below the article about our work together, the experiences of our colleagues and the assistance we provide to refugees from Ukraine.