European Year of the Volunteer 2011

Some of you will already be aware 2011 is the European Year of Volunteering. A conference was held at Leeds Armouries in December where representatives of the volunteering sector from across Europe came together to meet and exchange information on all aspects of running their services. In addition to the conference each European visitor was invited to spend some time with a local organisation like us to share information and ideas.

We were pleased to welcome Mr Ulrich Wagner from a service called Komm-Kids based in a deprived area of Dortmund, Germany. Ulri, as he is known to his friends, spent a couple of hours with us We enjoyed telling each other about our services and it was comforting to know that many of the problems we experience in the UK are equally prominent in other countries.

Komm-Kids is a small organisation which offers activities that aim to improve the lives and futures of children. They run a number of clubs for children such as after school meals, help with homework and soccer practice along with cookery classes for parents to name but a few.

They fund themselves by continuously canvassing local private businesses for sponsorship and donation and have managed to engage a local celebrity footballer called Zidan who keeps the service profile in the public eye. However, it was interesting to note that it is not unusual for them to only have sufficient funds for no more than two to three months ahead. Home-Start is of course very different in terms of scale etc but it was very worthwhile to compare notes and share the challenges all voluntary organisations face in the current economic climate.

Jill Coupe (Home Visiting Volunteer and Chair of Trustees)