Regionalne Centrum Wolontariatu w Lublinie

Our programmes in English

A guide to volunteer programmes lead by Volunteer Centre in Lublin

What are you reading?
An express description of the initiatives undertaken by the Volunteer Centre in Lublin.

Who are we?
The Volunteer Centre Association was established in 1999. For more than 14 years the organization has connected those who needed help and those who could and wanted to provide it to others, in Lublin region as well as far behind the borders of our region and country. Each of the initiatives described below was started in the face of a concrete human need and a situation posing a threat to human dignity, when sensitive people wanted to help selflessly.

What inspires us?
In short: the idea of the Civilisation of Love, promoted by John Paul II. In his message on the occasion of the International Year of Volunteer Work he wrote ‘ It is not enough to help whoever is in material difficulty; it is necessary at the same time to respond to his thirst for values and personal, spiritual solutions. The kind of help we offer is important, but more important than the kind of help offered is the heart of the one who gives it. Whether dealing with micro projects or great initiatives, in any event, volunteer work is called to be a school of life, especially for young people, contributing to educate them in a culture of solidarity and outreach, open to the free gift of self’.

What is volunteering and who are volunteers?
Volunteering, in a nutshell, is a free, voluntary, conscious work for others, exceeding family and friendship ties.
And volunteers? They are students of different majors and people working in various professions, elders as well as pupils of postprimary schools. They meet not only for the volunteer activities but also on joint celebrations or trips outside the city. Volunteers are a community of people who, despite different paths in life and experiences, speak the same language.

OUR PROGRAMMES:

BRIDGE (MOST)
We work with children from neglected districts and lanes of Lublin, mainly from Bronowice Stare district (since 2003). Within the framework of the programme we meet children in their streets, run a common room, organize their free time and try to make their childhood a time of opportunities and development instead of sadness and hopelessness.

DSK (Children’s Clinical Hospital in Lublin)
We take care of small patients of Children’s Clinical Hospital in Lublin. Volunteers spend their time next to the children’s beds, they read fairy tales, help during a treatment and play with them. Outside the hospital, they organize fund-risings in aid of the children, and in the hospital – some bigger events like St. Nicolas Day, Christmas meetings or theatrical performances. The programme exists since 2004. It is known for different actions ex. laughter therapy, fairytale therapy or painting fairytale figures on the hospital walls.

REFUGEE CHILDREN
Volunteers care for the children of the refugees that stay in Lublin, Kolonia Horbów, Bezwola and Biała Podlaska by spending time with them in recreation rooms of the Refugee Centre. Its main aim is to help the children to integrate with their Polish peers and to acquire abilities that might be necessary in their future. Volunteers lead the dance group ‘Gwiazdy Czeczenii’. The programme exists since 2001.

DOMINÓW
In the Juvenile Centre in Dominów, volunteers conduct activities for teenagers that have committed delinquent acts. We want to show them a different, alternative world and its values, help to develop their interests and encourage them to participate in volunteer actions. In 2014, the youth in collaboration with the volunteers realised the project named ‘The second chance. Youth for multicultural Lublin’ supported as a part of the programme Youth in Action. The project included ex. activities on multicultural education, graphics and development of social competences. The final effect of the project was the stencil painting of a city bus. The programme exists since 2010.

HOT PATROL – HELP FOR THE HOMELESS
During the autumn/winter season, everyday from Monday to Sunday, a patrol consisting of a few persons invites homeless people to the support point on 1-ego Maja street for a warm meal and to get medical assistance if needed. The point of the programme is to feed, medicate, and talk. The volunteers may become ‘assistants’ of their charges by helping them to come out of homelessness, they get involved into food and clothes collections that will be given to the most needy persons. The programme ‘Hot patrol’ exists since the autumn of 2002.

ELEUTHERIA – IN AID OF PRISONERS
The programme ‘Eleutheria’ was created for persons that try to arrange their life on the outside. They leave a prison and stay usually in temporary shelters because they have nowhere to go. Thus, volunteers organize activities for them already during their prison stay. The volunteers conduct the activities on development of social competences, development of their system of values, and thematic activities ex. on multicultural education, volunteer projects etc. Then, the volunteers should assist and support the ex-prisoners. The programme exists from 2006.

PSYCHIATRIC CLINIC
We also try to help patients from the Psychiatric Clinic at the Medical University of Lublin. Our programme involves the support for a patient during his treatment by organization of his spare time (thematic activities), discussions and conversations, or integration with other patients. These activities aim at fighting off a stereotype of people with mental disabilities that stigmatizes them. The programme is working from 2006.

PROGRAMME IN AID OF REFUGEES
The programme aims at helping people that try to find their place in Poland and live properly in the new reality. It includes teaching Polish language, showing cultural differences, supporting in everyday situations – from a medical visit to a search for a flat. Volunteers work with the residents of the Refugee Centre, and support regularized migrants that live in Lublin outside the Centre.

Volunteers also help in the Centres in Kolonia Horbów, Bezwola and Biała Podlaska. We encourage you to work with children in recreation rooms in the Centres or with adults (after a proper preparation – Polish language lessons and cultural education for foreigners). What’s more, you can provide cultural education lessons for foreign children in Polish schools or help to organize integration parties or the Refugee Day.

OMNES GENTES
This is a proposition for foreigners living in Lublin that would like to involve themselves in volunteer activities, and for Poles that are not afraid of challenges caused by language, cultural, and traditional differences. The group Omnes Gentes (from Latin ‘all nations’) is open both for students and for employees.
The idea of creating the group was given by foreigners living in Lublin that wanted to become a part of the Volunteer Centre. Volunteers help a local society, conduct activities for children, cultural education classes in schools and in a specially-equipped Integration Room.

The Volunteer Centre cooperates with the Global Solidarity Association that realizes projects helping different groups of people, for example internal refugees in Georgia, and organizes volunteering missions to different countries all over the world.

What can you choose instead of the programme?
VOLUNTARY SERVICE ACTIONS
For those that cannot get involved in the programme we propose the voluntary service actions – participation in fund-raisings or another important actions.

INTERMEDIARY OFFICE
Intermediary Office for Volunteers at Volunteer Centre connects people that need help and those who offer it. Both institutions (children/s homes, nursing homes, integrated nursery schools etc.) and individuals (through the Municipal Family Welfare Centre) receive help from us. Persons interested in volunteer service participate in the training in the rights and obligations of a volunteer, legal aspects of volunteer service etc. After the training you can choose a proper offer of involvement.

CONTACT:
Centrum Wolontariatu
Jezuicka st. 4, 20-113 Lublin;
tel. (081) 534 26 52, fax: 81 532 45 45
www.wolontariat.org.pl/lublin
e-mail: lublin@wolontariat.org.pl

If you are willing to provide us with the financial support:
on our account number: 64 1240 1503 1111 0000 1753 2101, with the annotation: ‘donation towards the execution of the statutory objectives’

WE ARE SUPPORTED BY:

Radio eR, 87,9 FM

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