Volunteering

Volunteering means that you have influence on events around you. It is a form of cooperation, where one devotes his/her time, energy, knowledge, and skills without payment. The volunteer commits him/herself freely on the basis of his/her beliefs to others or society as a whole.

 

Volunteering is suitable for anyone of any age and experience. A student, a worker, a woman on maternity leave, a retiree, or anyone who is looking for a job may become a volunteer. Whether volunteers dedicate only moments of their time or a lifetime, a few days in a year or a few hours each day, any kind of work devoted to the non-profit sector has a very important impact. Volunteers can apply their professional skills or take advantage of volunteering as a welcome change of pace from their jobs.

 

Volunteering brings benefits to both parties, not only to the receiver. The volunteer can put their knowledge and skills into practice while meeting new people from the community or around the world. Volunteering can also be an enjoyable way to relax and spend time with people of different ages and backgrounds. What are widely agreed to be the most important benefits of volunteering? The fulfillment and good feeling resulting from participation in meaningful work. Devoting your energy in a responsible manner can be an invaluable experience.

 

Volunteering takes a number of different forms. Volunteers can help within the family or neighborhood, local societies, community activities, and sports clubs. These civic activities are beneficial for both the group as a whole and the individual volunteer, creating a useful and spontaneous partnership. On the contrary, community volunteerism focuses on the wider environment. Within this type, non-profit organizations coordinate and lead activities, and the volunteer follows clearly defined duties. A further type of voluntary service is very specific, usually involving a long-term, continuous commitment that often takes place abroad.

 

Volunteers are changing our whole society. Their cooperation and teamwork often leads to great outcomes.

 

 

You can find a volunteer right in your own neighborhood. It might be a volunteer fireman, a nurse in a hospice, a guardian from dog shelter, a Czech teacher for immigrant children, an amateur theater director, an assistant in the floods, a children´s camp counselor, a film projectionist in a student film festival, the parent who passes on their experience to young families, a personal assistant for people with disabilities, the dance instructor for the seniors in the dance therapy, the student magazine editor,  a social worker for disadvantaged families, the singer for charity, kick-boxing instructor for children from socially disadvantaged families, assistant for foreign conference delegates, an aide for blind people...

 

 

It is very easy to become a volunteer, it is just about making the right decision to take a chance. For more information, please visit the following sites:

 

Volunteer.cz, www.volunteer.cz

National Volunteer centrum Hestia, www.hest.cz

Listings of volunteer positions, www.dobro.cz

INEX Association of volunteer activities, www.inexsda.cz

World Volunteer Web, www.worldvolunteerweb.org

Volunteers, www.dobrovolnici.cz

The Youth in Action programme, www.mladezvakci.cz/en/

Duha Association, www.trochujinak.cz/en/

AIESEC, www.aiesec.cz

ECONNECT, www.econnect.cz

SALTO – YOUTH, www.salto-youth.net

Do you want to be a volunteer with the Forum 2000 Foundation? More information about possibilities of volunteering in our foundation can be found here.