• LIBERTY Ostrava to support 21 local community projects nominated by employees this year
• Over eleven years the steelworks has distributed more than CZK 7.5 million to almost 550 projects, benefiting more than 11,000 residents of the Moravian-Silesian region

The Ostrava steelworks is restoring its tradition of funding community projects through employee grants, by distributing more than 500,000 Crowns to 21 socially beneficial non-profit organizations with which its employees are personally engaged.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, LIBERTY Ostrava will distribute a total of CZK 520,320 among 21 regional projects, which were selected by an eight-member committee from 41 applications. All employees of the mill who volunteer in the non-profit sector can apply for the support for their organisation, which can receive up to CZK 30,000 per project.

Oleksandr Ivanov, executive director of LIBERTY Ostrava, said: “The Ostrava steelworks has supported many socially beneficial projects in the region over the years because we and our employees are an integral part of the community. The goal of the employee grants programme is to enable our employees obtain funding for the local non-profit organizations in which they are personally engaged. We believe it builds their sense of pride in LIBERTY Ostrava and its important position in improving the lives of everyone across our community.”

Some examples of the projects being supported in this year’s funding round:

Thanks to Jan Čech, who is the coordinator of the Maintenance Plant design team and a youth coach in Muay Thai for the past ten years, the sports center Bad Boys Gym from Ostrava – Zábřeh will now receive new training equipment. Jan said of the grant: “By getting new punching bags, so-called paws, as well as leg and head protectors we will improve the quality of Thai boxing training and the safety of the young people who attend our training session.”

Iva Feglerová, Head of the Logistics, has been helping the Foundation Fund of the Czech Myeloma Group for five years. “We will use the funds to buy new infusion stands, which are needed to improve the care of patients with malignant hematological diseases in the Moravian-Silesian region,” Iva explained.

The NGO Dlaň životu offers various types of help to individuals and families from all walks of life, especially pregnant women, mothers with children, parents with small children and families with specific needs. “People will benefit from the project on several levels. It will be mothers with children from among clients, volunteers who will create interesting products at joint meetings. And furthermore, people who will buy the products. And also the whole organization, which thanks to the support from LIBERTY Ostrava, will have the opportunity to secure the necessary means for a year-round production, while the sale of handmade products will again provide the organization with a small income and mainly the promotion of its activities and the sharing of information about the services offered,” described Head of Technical standardization Taťána Ujházy, who has been engaged with Dlaň životu for thirteen years.

For sixteen years Karel Závadský has been the main leader of the children’s camps organized by the Association of Czech Youth Hiking Clubs. The club will buy a new large-space tent with its grant. “When the weather is bad, we currently use an old military hangar at the camps. Most tents only last a maximum of two seasons, which is why with this grant we are buying a large-space tent with a solid metal structure which will allow us to do our activities in bad weather for years to come,” says Karel, who works as a controller at Ostrava’s Hot Strip Mill.  

The volunteer fire brigade in Ostrava – Kunčičky will buy new sports equipment, which will improve the safety and comfort for the youngest firefighters. The support was applied for by the input and output control technician at the plant’s rolling mills Petr Jajcaj, who has been working with the young firefighters for over thirty years. “The equipment is mainly intended for our fifteen young firefighters aged four to ten and will make it easier to teach them the drills they need.” said Petr.

During the eleven years of existence of the Employee Grants programme, the steelworks has supported a total of 544 projects in the region. It distributed among these more than CZK 7.5 million, which have benefited more than 11 thousand residents of the Moravian-Silesian region.

Further information:

Note to editors:

LIBERTY Ostrava is an integrated steel business with an annual production capacity of approximately 3.6 million tonnes per annum serving construction, machinery and oil & gas industries. The company is a domestic leader in the manufacture of road barriers and tubes. In addition to the Czech market, it supplies its products to more than 40 countries around the world. Together with its subsidiaries in Ostrava, the company has 6,000 employees. The company manufactures its products with a minimum possible environmental footprint.  It is part of LIBERTY Steel Group.

LIBERTY Steel Group plans to invest 8.6 billion of Czech Korunas in the LIBERTY Ostrava GREENSTEEL transformation programme over the course of the next eight years so that is carbon neutral by 2030. The key element of the CN30 programme will be the replacement of the steelwork’s existing four tandem furnaces with two state-of-the-art hybrid electric arc furnaces and the building of a new power line. The new furnaces, for which the contracts were signed at the beginning of July, will be delivered by Danieli, a leading global manufacturer of plant and machinery. At the same signing ceremony, LIBERTY Ostrava signed a Declaration of Cooperation with ČEZ ESCO to identify and develop renewable energy and hydrogen technologies and announced the launch of the GFG Foundation in the Czech Republic.

In addition to the modernisation of the steel shop, the transformation will also include an extensive modernisation of the steel rolling mills, which will improve the quality of steel and expand the product portfolio with high added value products. The investment programme will also see the creation of a renewable power plants for electricity production as well as the development of the GREENSTEEL Academy, which aims to upskill the plant’s current workforce and encourage new people into the industry.

LIBERTY Steel Group is part of the global GFG Alliance owned by Sanjeev Gupta and his family. The GFG Alliance has three independent industrial brands: LIBERTY S teel Group, ALVANCE Aluminum Group and SIMEC Energy Group which share the same values and strive for a long-term sustainable future for industry and society. The GFG Alliance operates in 30 countries, with a total of 35,000 employees and a turnover of over $20 billion.