Voluntary work in Austria
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- Created on Saturday, 25 February 2017 15:28
- Written by austria
Voluntary work in Austria
by Laura Schauer, Austria
Countless Austrian citizens are involved in every possible kind of volunteering. There is no determining on one type of help, but a wide range of different opportunities and offers to volunteer.
There are not only activities that have something to do with welfare, but also some that do not require too much contact with people. If you are a social and public-spirited person, you can choose from an immense selection of voluntary work. Depending on your interests you could assist older people or retirees who need some help during every-day life. Sometimes they are already content if they have someone to chatter.
Furthermore, also people from the blind/deaf community need assistance because they are not able to do certain activities, for example, going for a walk with them or helping to cook, cleaning the house, etc. The same goes for mentally or physically disabled persons, previously homeless people, ex-prisoners or any kind of former addicts, who need qualified help from experts. However, even a non-professional person can be of assistance.
If you prefer manual labour you could sign up for disaster aid and help to reconstruct buildings that were damaged during a storm, floodings or avalanches. Or maybe someone had an accident and you can help to make their house handicapped accessible.
Naturally, you can look for voluntary activities by yourself but it is easier if you become a member of an organisation and work together in a team. In Austria exist lots of organisations which are meant to help others. The Red Cross and Caritas are the most commonly known ones. During our first year at BORG SD our class participated in a project called “72 Stunden ohne Kompromisse”. Small organisations or clubs which need stand-ins with a certain project can sign up and the volunteers are sent there to help them for 72 hours.
There is also an initiative implemented by Hitradio Ö3 which is called Team Austria. You can join a group of currently 50.000 members. It works like that: The organisation sends you a message in the case of a catastrophe happening near you. You can either reply with “no” supposing that you are engaged in some other activity or reply with “yes” and help immediately. Usually there are experts on the spot and you can support. I would like to join this organisation as soon as I am old enough (minimum age is 18), since each mission offers a one of a kind experience. The things you learn through these projects will last for a lifetime.