Winners of the Formula for Good Deeds contest in Dzerzhinsk received grant support

23 march 2023

Dzerzhinsk’s city administration held an awards ceremony to honor the winners of the 8th contest of socially significant projects held as part of SIBUR's corporate social investment program, the Formula for Good Deeds. Dzerzhinsk’s Deputy Mayor Yulia Ashurkova and Sibur-Neftekhim JSC’s Chief Engineer Mikhail Gurlev presented winners’ certificates to the managers of eight non-profit and state-funded organizations that had won grants for implementing their projects.

Out of a total of 28 applications received from Dzerzhinsk-based organizations eight best ones ended up being selected as winners.

The grants were awarded to the Dzerzhinsk Polytechnic Institute, ParaPlan, a Dzerzhinsk-based non-profit association of people confined to wheelchairs, the Olympic Reserve Sports School Salute, the Fatherland Center for Patriotic Education, the multidisciplinary Youth Initiatives center for children and youths, the Chemists’ Palace of Culture, the city center for physical culture and wellness center, and others.

The Dzerzhinsk Polytechnic Institute (DPI) is going to set up an educational and scientific center for school-students called the Plastics Center consisting of two specialized state-of-the-art laboratories where students, postgraduates and young scientists from the DPI will be giving theoretical and hands-on classes and master classes to schoolchildren on the subjects of sorting and recycling plastic waste into useful household products.

2023 will see yet another installment of the international Oksky ParaFest 2023 festival of culture and sports for people with disabilities take place. It will feature sports competitions, a rich cultural program and creative master classes for people with disabilities. A three-day soccer tournament dubbed Stronger than one’s circumstances will also be organized for people with disabilities. This year, Dzerzhinsk will be hosting teams of players from 8 to 10 different cities from across the country.

At least 5,000 people are expected to take part in the Youth City festival of active lifestyle seeking to promote sports, various positive aspects of contemporary culture and rewarding leisure activities among children and youths.

In addition, SIBUR will be supporting two music events: Dzerzhinsky’s Summer, the All-Russian Festival of guitar poetry and good music, and the Art on the Carpet project that will feature performances by local music bands and creative youngsters.

In a bid to revive Olympic sailing traditions, Dzerzhinsk will open a sailing club for boys and girls. Following a 25-year hiatus, the Dzerzhinsk Optimists regatta will be organized anew. With the use of the grant funds, the regatta’s organizers intend to upgrade boat ramps for launching sailboats, buy any other necessary gear and the paraphernalia for awarding future winners.

The authors of the Cultured Sports project that became a winner of the grant contest are going to install ping-pong tables and stalls for bookcrossing on the grounds of the Duck Lake Park.

Yulia Ashurkova, Deputy Mayor of Dzerzhinsk:

Dzerzhinsk has been very fortunate because not every city has such a company as SIBUR around. We have been working together with SIBUR for several years now and have grown to be not just reliable partners but true friends as well. Thanks to the company’s Formula for Good Deeds program, we have been able to build a modern stage at our Raduga park and to hold the Oksky ParaFest, an annual large-scale inclusive festival of culture and sports, and the City of Youth festival in our city. Most recently, thanks to SIBUR's support, Dzerzhinsk played host to the Chernorechye Fest, Russia’s first-ever open festival of national cinema. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank SIBUR for its caring attitude to our city and its residents, and of course, my congratulations to all the winners of the Formula for Good Deeds contest! May each of your projects be implemented exactly the way you had envisioned them to help make life in Dzerzhinsk even more comfortable and exciting.

Mikhail Gurlev, Sibur-Neftekhim JSC’s Chief Engineer:

We are happy to be able support Dzerzhinsk residents’ initiatives that seek to make the city even more modern and attractive in the key aspects of city life. Our partnerships with local residents intended to effect social change have always been among the core objectives of the Formula for Good Deeds program. This year, it was especially gratifying to see such a great number of projects designed to help promote sports, healthy living, and an inclusive environment. I would like to thank the authors of all these projects for their caring attitude and their desire to change life for the better!

Alexander Petrovsky, Director of Dzerzhinsk Polytechnic Institute (a branch of R.E. Alekseev NNSTU):

In keeping with the long-standing tradition, our polytechnic institute has been a strong supporter of engaging with school students in an attempt to boost their interest in engineering professions. As we continue to hold a series of events organized in partnership with SIBUR, 2023 will see us implement our Plastic Center project. It is intended to provide a visually compelling demonstration to our school children how sorting, crushing and melting of plastics is done. When these schoolchildren can observe the process of plastics recycling and see how recycled plastics can be reused later to produce new items, they get fired up. Of course, as we go along, we make sure that we explain to them all there is to know about the chemical processes involved and the physical properties of these materials, but our main goal is to make them feel that the disciplines of chemistry and physics are approachable, easy and exciting.