Alena Bykova: “Just Don’t Be Afraid to Act!”

24 september 2025

Our September issue of the About People and Good Deeds column features Alena Bykova, a leading procurement specialist at Perm's Petrochemical Transportation Company discussing her journey into corporate volunteering, and providing the lowdown on what inspired her first steps, which projects really hit home, and why a child's sincerity and gratitude is all the fuel one needs to keep on helping.

So, how did your volunteering journey began? What inspired you?
I had already been pitching in wherever I could even before I got into corporate volunteering. I had been providing donations to support sick children’s treatment, lending a hand to animal shelters. But at some point, it all started feeling like a proverbial drop in the bucket. It was then that I learned about SIBUR’s Formula for Good Deeds program and saw that some of my colleagues had already been in the volunteering game. The real catalyst was my coworker Tatiana Solovyeva who played a crucial role in this. She had been deeply immersed in charity work and suggested to me that we should team up. So, she was the one who truly got me moving, and I’m very grateful to her for that.

What motivates you to keep going?
It’s seeing how much it matters to the kids. Their smiles, their genuine emotions and gratitude are what really matters the most to me. Frankly, half the time I think they’re helping me much more than I’m helping them. They give me strength, reason, and the sense that this is really worth it.

You juggle several lines of activity as a volunteer, from helping animals to inclusion work. Is there one that you can say is your favorite?

It’s helping children, no doubt about it. I really love working with them, experiencing their openness and spontaneity. But animals, too, have a special place in my heart, so I try to make time for them, as well, whenever I can.

In 2024, you rolled out two outstanding projects: Igroteka and Povaryata. How did the idea for each of those come to you?
Together with Tatiana Solovyeva, we had learned about the Miloserdiya center in Perm, contacted the leadership, went over the children’s needs, and saw what it was they were lacking. That’s how these ideas gradually came into being and eventually became what we now know as the Igroteka and Povaryata projects. We wanted to give these kids more ways to communicate, create, and grow, whether through play or cooking workshops.

This year, with backing from the Formula for Good Deeds, you’re carrying on with your Povaryata project. What was on the program’s menu this year?
In 2025, we teamed up with volunteers from the PTC to hold three main campaigns: Maslenitsa Celebrations, Children’s Day, The Day of Family, Love, and Fidelity, and an Eco-Picnic out of doors. Each of them was given its unique themed culinary twist in the form cooking workshops so that the fun, games and contests would come with a side of learning how to cook simple but interesting dishes on one’s own.

What were the most challenging and the most joyous elements of running projects for children dealing with adversity in their lives?
As for the most joyful part, that was, without a doubt, seeing their happy faces, getting their grateful hugs, and their kind words afterwards. It’s especially moving to learn that a child’s situation has turned round for the better and they are heading back home to their family. The hardest part was hearing the stories of how they had ended up where they were in the first place. And the realization that you can’t completely change their circumstances.

How critical is the support of your colleagues and your employer for you in implementing your volunteering initiatives?
The backing of my colleagues and the company means the world to me. One simply can’t pull this off alone, or even if you team up with someone else. It’s only through the joint efforts of volunteers with SIBUR’s support on top that we are able to make large-scale and truly meaningful events happen.

What did winning the Social Volunteering award at SIBUR’s 5th corporate volunteering forum mean to you?
It was completely unexpected news and a pleasant surprise. This award means that our efforts do get noticed and appreciated. And not only by the children and the families we help but also by our own company. This is what motivates us to keep going and do even more.

What kind of feedback do you get from the people you help, whether it’s children, older people, or animal shelters?
It’s always their genuine gratitude, smiles, kind words. They recognize us, they expect us, they are happy to see us when we show up, and they ask us back. This kind feedback is truly inspiring as it confirms that our help is really needed there.

What volunteering challenges would you like to take on going forward?
I’m currently on the lookout for worthy environmental projects. It feels that this is especially relevant and important at this juncture, and so it would be great to rally volunteers around this cause, too.

What’s your advice to someone who’s just thinking about starting to volunteer but hesitates to?
Just don’t be afraid to act. Volunteering pays you back in ways you won’t always see coming. Give it a try and you’ll appreciate how much joy and purpose it brings.

Learn more about upcoming volunteering activities by visiting SIBUR’s volunteering groups on VKontakte and on Telegram.