President Andrej Kiska receives awardees

Slovak president Andrej Kiska received 27 nominees for the Volunteer of the Year 2014 award prior to nine of them being awarded for their work at a ceremonial gala on Wednesday night. The event, set for the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry, is being organised by the National Volunteer Centre CARDO for the seventh time. However, this is the first time that the nominees have been received by a president. "They're volunteers who are ordinary people, but once you speak to them you realise they're worthy of being awarded. They don't long for public fame, they put their heart into their work and do it in their leisure time", the centre's Katarína Gešková told Kiska. "I was looking forward to being in your company, because you're messengers of good news", noted Kiska after saying that he hadn't read any newspapers on Wednesday in an effort to avoid seeing any pieces of negative information. He stressed that volunteers often do work that should actually be carried out by state institutions in the first place. Hence, it is incumbent on politicians and the president to highlight good deeds. "You're making the country a better place to live in. I want to support you and learn about just how humane we can be to one another", said Kiska.