Using volunteers has gotten more complicated in the pandemic. A broadcast shows: there is no lack of helpfulness.
A week ago today was International Volunteering Day. It was proclaimed by the UN in 1986 and has been held every year on December 5th ever since. The importance of voluntary work for society has not only been demonstrated this year, but for months. Volunteers have been filling the gaps in our society's supply since March.
They help in hospitals, nursing homes or with the food supply of the needy. The nose swabs in the current corona mass tests are also often done by volunteers. Many areas of public and social life would not function without the hard work of many volunteers.
Social clinical thermometer
“Our work is like a social clinical thermometer,” said Anna Parr, Secretary General of Caritas Austria recently in the KURIER. The number of people coming to the social counseling centers would increase, the queues in front of social markets would be longer, and there would be financial difficulties and loneliness. December is a particularly active month for social institutions, clubs and organizations.
With a view to Christmas, volunteer work and volunteering are becoming more popular, and it is also a month in which many donation campaigns are started or where services such as mobile food distribution or the cold telephone for the homeless are more popular due to the season.
3.5 million volunteers
Around 3.5 million people in Austria volunteer, take on an honorary position in the social, educational or political area. Not all do this through a non-profit organization or association. 27 percent of Austrians do informal voluntary work, for example in the form of neighborhood help.
In the first wave, the fear of infections and the formation of clusters fueled the concern that the virus could also cause serious damage to voluntary services in Austria. Because many projects are dependent on the cooperation of volunteers.
There are around 72,000 volunteers at the Austrian Red Cross alone and around 50,000 at Caritas. But the good news is: even a pandemic couldn't put this commitment under pressure. Rather, the pandemic has changed the work of charities. At the beginning, of course, many projects had to be put on hold, says Gregor Jakob-Feiks, Caritas volunteer coordinator.
For example, visiting services in retirement homes were hardly or not at all possible. But like many other organizations, Caritas also switched its services to digital. And so, for example, the “learning cafés”, tutoring for children from socially disadvantaged families, were offered virtually, while the “chat network”, a hotline against loneliness, replaced physical visits with telephone calls. More than 2,500 volunteers were committed to this initiative, which emerged during the crisis.
Young people compensate for failing helpers
“An unbelievable number of people have turned to us, that's a nice social sign. They got in touch because they wanted to show solidarity in an emergency, or because they had more time due to a job loss or short-time work and wanted to make good use of it, including many students, ”says Jakob-Feiks.
The fact that young people between 18 and 35 in particular got involved in so many organizations helped many organizations to overcome another challenge: the absence of helpers. By far the highest participation rate in volunteer work (57 percent) is found in 60 to 69-year-olds who are also part of the corona risk group or who could not always be used due to previous illnesses.
There is no lack of willingness to help in the population, is the tenor of many aid organizations. Political scientist Katharina Kieslich believes that solidarity has increased across society as a whole would go too far. She is part of the research group “Contemporary Solidarity Studies” which asked people in spring and autumn about how they dealt with the pandemic.
Feeling exhausted
“The results show that the new togetherness that was felt in April is gradually giving way to a feeling of exhaustion,” says Kieslich. In the beginning there was an enormous creative drive to help others despite the risk of infection. “In the second phase of the survey in October there was a stronger appeal to politicians to support socially disadvantaged groups in society, and an institutionally structured solidarity is demanded.” “Everyone is affected by the crisis in some way and at some point the air is out.”
Whether crises strengthen or weaken social solidarity is a contradictory discussion in the literature. But from experience, volunteer coordinator Jakob-Feiks knows that many people register as volunteers, even if or precisely because they are going through a crisis themselves.
“Getting to know other realities of life, the feeling of being needed, that is simply enriching for many people.” Long-term studies in neuroscience also show that voluntary work has a positive effect on mental health. Those who help others are physically fitter, more satisfied with their own lives and are less likely to suffer from depression.
