Red Cross President: “Can’t say ‘thank you’ often enough” – Austria
Red Cross volunteers quickly help 12.5 million hours a year! Red Cross President Gerald Creator took the opportunity and said “Thank you”.
Four out of ten people in Austria volunteer for the common good without pay. This puts the Austrian voluntary system among the best in Europe.
“Without volunteering, Austria would be a different country. Many services could not be offered in the usual quality. The volunteers can be proud of having a helping heart – and where is lived common ground more visible than in the volunteers’ commitment to others? Thank you Red Crosses for that.
74,000 volunteers in action
The Red Cross offers a variety of opportunities to volunteer. In 2021, more than 74,000 people volunteered for the Austrian Red Cross, around 42,000 of them in the rescue service. With almost 15,000 helpers, the health and social services are the second largest area of application. This includes, for example, the visiting and accompanying service, through which volunteers ensure important social contacts, or support for senior citizens’ activities such as excursions, exercise courses and club meetings.
Other volunteers give the youngest members of society a perspective: In the Red Cross learning centers, children do their homework, read and play with teachers and volunteers. The offer is primarily aimed at children and young people whose families depend on free help and supports them on the way to the compulsory qualification and beyond.
“Priceless Resource”
“The diverse voluntariness makes our society more social, safer and also fairer, because things are being provided that cannot exist from an economic point of view. The commitment of volunteers deserves more attention and recognition, because it is a priceless resource and a valuable contribution to the functioning of our society,” says Red Cross President Creator.
No matter how, no matter where: volunteering is the backbone of our society. In 2021 there were almost 12.5 million hours that Red Cross helpers worked on a voluntary basis – that is 15 percent more than in the previous year. “It’s not only priceless, but also effective. You can’t say ‘thank you’ often enough to the people who volunteer. Without them, people would have to wait longer for rescue and more elderly people would be lonely, children from disadvantaged families would be left to their own devices and those in need would have even more problems,” said Creator.
Under www.roteskreuz.at/ich-will-helfen there are many ways to support the Red Cross in its humanitarian work. After all, a society worth living in needs people who take responsibility.