„I am delighted with the initiative of every business and the projects they are implementing for the city's community. The example of this socially responsible company, which is not only concerned about profits and dividends, will hopefully encourage other businesses to contribute to projects that will create more places for active leisure in the city. For its part, the municipality is ready to cooperate and help businesses to implement their good ideas so that citizens can enjoy the benefits of nature and the city. I am glad that both the municipality and the businesses operating in the city are committed to creating a Klaipėda where the locals feel comfortable and safe,“ says Mayor of Klaipėda Arvydas Vaitkus.
„The company's volunteers gave the idea to open the river and the unused territory around it to the community. The aim is to create an attractive, active leisure zone for the community near the Mokyklos Street bridge and Joniškės Street, with a swing park, sports grounds and a summer cinema. The SBA Bench Alley is the first stage of this project. Already in the spring, our volunteers cleaned up the Danė riverbank – collecting rubbish, removing thickets, and levelling the terrain. Unique benches for the alley are being created and will be donated to the community by SBA Group companies operating in Klaipėda and throughout Lithuania. They will be placed on the Danė shoreline along a 200-metre stretch,“ says Viktoras Pivorius, Head of Klaipėdos baldai.
The benches are manufactured by SBA Group companies Klaipėdos baldai, SBA Home, SBA Grupė, SBA Urban, Inno Line, Innovo logistika, Šilutės baldai, Visagino linija, Kauno baldai.
The Danė riverside park is planned to be built in phases, inviting the local community, businesses and the municipality to join in. One of the initiators of the idea, V. Pivorius, the head of Klaipėdos baldai, cites successful examples in cities around the world where the waterfront has become a place of active leisure and attraction for people, such as the Ralis skatepark in Stockholm, the swing park in Milwaukee (USA), the area under the San Giorgio Bridge in Genoa (Italy), the amphitheatre for the cinema under the Liubarto Bridge in Vilnius
SBA Group has experience in implementing projects for communities in other cities: in Kaunas, the renovation of the Vienybės Square, which has become a centre of attraction and full of life. In Kaunas, it has created recreation areas along the Neris River near the Kauno dokas business centre, and in Vilnius, it has created a recreation area next to the Green Hall, which the city's residents actively use.
Klaipėdos baldai volunteers actively participate in the SBA's Volunteering Wave initiative. They organise fairs where they make necessary items for lonely or hard-pressed people, babies, or homeless animals, as well as take part in dune clean-ups and help lonely people. Last year, 1,400 volunteers from SBA Group companies and their helpers contributed 5,500 hours of good deeds.