OREANDA-NEWS. November 02, 2010. More than 400 volunteers from Citi in Russia & the CIS joined over 45,000 Citi volunteers in 75 countries around the world for the company’s fifth annual Global Community Day. This year Citi employees in Moscow and 9 other cities in Russia volunteered in retirement homes and orphanages, helped animal shelters prepare for winter and planted trees in parks, reported the press-centre of Citibank.

Zdenek Turek, President of ZAO Citibank and Head of Citi in Russia and the CIS, said: "I would like to thank all our employees that participate in Citi's Global Community Day each year, especially those who do it regularly. Supporting communities in which we live and work is a key part of our corporate culture and business ethics".

A wide range of projects were organized in many Russian cities and regions. In the village of Petrovskoe in the Yaroslavl region, Citi volunteers installed a kitchen in a local orphanage, after which they joined the children in baking cookies together. In Rostov-on-Don, Kazan and St. Petersburg, employees, friends and families planted trees in parks. In Ufa, volunteers organized an excursion for disabled children to the planetarium and hippotherapy sessions with experienced therapists. In Yekaterinburg, Community Day participants took children from the Orphanage #7 to the theatre, while other volunteers stayed at the orphanage to clean up and prepare the windows for winter. In Volgograd, Citi employees organized a party in the Steps center for disabled children.

Citi has been involved in volunteering for 200 years and continues to support the volunteering activities of its employees. The first Citi Global Community Day took place in 2006 in over 100 countries around the world including Russia. Its success and the positive feedback that was received from Citi employees led to it becoming an annual event. Throughout the year Citi employees participate in volunteer projects and at the end of the year they celebrate their accomplishments and the results of their efforts to improve the lives of those in the communities in which they live and work.

Citi Russia helped the following organizations as part of Global Community Day:
Moscow
The Boarding School in Kolychevo
The Laskovy Zver Animal Shelter
The StART Art Therapy Center
The Here and Now Foundation
The Ramensky Veterans Center
The Boarding School for Children with Speaking and Hearing Difficulties in the Yaroslavl region
The Curative Education Center
Downside Up
The Way to Life Center

St. Petersburg
The Children in Danger Hospice
The Kurkina Dacha Park
The 37th Corrective Boarding School

Ryazan
The Mosolovskaya Boarding School for Orphans

Kazan
The Park on Palace Square in the village of Debryshki

Samara
The Park on Novosadovaya Street

Rostov-on-Don
Pleven Park

Volgograd
The Steps Rehabilitation Center
The 4th Orphanage for Infants

Yekaterinburg
The 7th Orphanage

Ufa
The 2nd Special Orphanage for Children with Learning Difficulties

Nizhny Novgorod
The Bogorodsky Orphanage