OUR STORY

Park Istra has been operating since 2013. To date, it has organized about 3000 volunteering actions and hosted more than 1200 volunteers from 56 countries, who donated almost 100.000 hours of work.

In 2019 Park Istra opened its volunteer center in the village of Kastelec, which is the only such center in Slovenia and beyond. It can host twenty volunteers at all times and responds daily to the needs and challenges of the local environment.

Throughout the years, the scope of our work has expanded widely. The number of volunteers and the number of volunteering actions increased. The areas covered today by Park Istra are very diverse and range from the assistance to the socially deprivileged to protection of cultural and natural heritage, educational activities and support of sustainable projects and activities of local communities throughout Slovenian Istria and beyond.

In 2021 one of Park Istra’s projects was awarded nomination for Salto Award as one of the top five volunteering projects in Europe.

In 2019 Petra Matos received a national award for outstanding achievements in volunteering.

In 2017 Park Istra received the prestigious environmental award Energy Globe Award Slovenia and the status of an organization that works in the public interest.

In 2017, the founder of Park Istra, Petra Matos, was nominated for the national award of Slovenian woman of the year.