Photo courtesy Volunteer Community
The Volunteer Community, a network of volunteers that brings supportive programming to communities throughout Ukraine, has been actively cooperating with Good Deeds Day for seven years. Good Deeds Day is a peak event of year-round doing good activities, was initiated by businesswoman and philanthropist Shari Arison in 2007. On this special day, millions of people from 110 countries across the globe participate in doing good. This partnership offers great opportunities to develop volunteering in Ukraine, and to attract public attention to the many social challenges people living in Ukraine today face.
Dedication to volunteerism
The Volunteer Community, formed in 2015, currently provides service in seven countries, especially in Ukraine, where they unite thousands of volunteers, annually providing assistance to tens of thousands of people in need.
The Volunteer Community operates volunteer centers in 25 cities throughout Ukraine and they run some 450 local projects and activities annually, aimed at supporting older people, including those in hospices and geriatric homes, children from socially vulnerable families, people with disabilities and families dealing with difficult life circumstances. In addition they coordinate zoo-volunteering, eco-volunteering, cultural and sports volunteering in various cities in Ukraine.
The Volunteer Community pays special attention to volunteer training, support and supervision, implementing various educational programs, seminars, and providing professional psychological support.
Adapting to a challenging reality
Although efforts for Good Deeds Day in 2022 had to be postponed due to the extremely challenging circumstances in the country at the time, the Volunteer Network re-scheduled their campaign for September 2022. It was important for them to implement the campaign to show that no matter how difficult times are, there is always a way to provide volunteer support to those who need it the most.
Efforts were dedicated to supporting large families in the community and displaced people. In addition to assistance in the form of hygiene kits, the purchase of which was made possible thanks to a grant from Good Deeds Day, volunteers held creative and cooking workshops, games, festivals with animators and classes on the theme of kindness with the children. In cities where it is not safe to gather groups of children, volunteers made individual home visits.
“We believe that this day of kindness will be remembered by the children for a long time and that it gave them such important and necessary positive emotions, moments of joy, carefree smiles and extreme happiness and was able to give them a little support in these times of crisis” Daria Yefimenko, coordinator of the Volunteer Network , told Goodnet.
Despite the many challenges, volunteers in Kharkov continued to provide support to local children. The personal connection and caring of the volunteer warmed the hearts of the community members they encountered. “In Zaporozhye our volunteers were able to hold a holiday with games and animators for children who fled from the war. It became a real holiday for them and helped to take their minds off the horror and fear for at least a few hours and bring them smiles and joy,” Yefimenko stated.
The hard work and dedication of the Volunteer Community in cooperation with Good Deeds Day, shows that anyone, anywhere and even under the most challenging of circumstances, can do good and can strive to make the world a better place.
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Good Deeds Day, an annual global day of doing good, is the pinnacle of doing good year-round. Initiated in 2007 by business woman and philanthropist Shari Arison, Good Deeds Day has grown to 108 countries with millions of participants. Good Deeds Day 2023 is on April 16.
