IYC Suomi promotes volunteering and social participation among young people. We aim to encourage youth to get involved in solidarity projects and start their own actions, thus we provide them with tools and resources. We seek to build a solidarity society, powered by the strengh of a comitted and aware youth.
Currently we are developing several projects in which people between 15 and 30 years old can participate and play a role. The purpose of this projects is not just to help and cooperate with people in need but to cultivate a culture of charity among the youth and develop social awareness.
Become a volunteer
Participate is quite easy. Just send us an e-mail to suomi@iyouthc.org and tell us in which project you would like to get involved. You can sign up either for one single day or for regularly involvement. Its up to you! Come one day and try, if you like it you can consider to become a regular volunteer.
Its worth to know that not always there will be availability for participate in the activities, as sometimes a project could be stopped, there couldn´t be free vacancies or there could be unrelated causes that can suppose the cancellation of the activity. In these cases we will let you know with enough time.
Another way of participation is to come with an idea or a project in mind and we will provide you with tools, assestments, resources and whatever will be needed, to start it or count on us as partners. We are open to listen to your proposals.
We have available a platform where we post all the activities that will take place in the following months. The meetingpoints, starting times, locations and dates are updated and you have just to fill few gaps sharing your info and we will contact you to arrange everything. The platform is called Friday Revolution and you can access to ti by cliking here.
Projects
Food Distribution
This project aims to cover the needs and lacks of either food and company from families and particulars. Every Friday we receive a container with basic groceries, wich later are placed in boxes that afterwards are delivered to the houses of the beneficiaires. The volunteers fill the boxes and go with a car to bring the food. Once they arrive to each house they help to arrange everything, spend some time talking and playing and then they leave to continue with the route.
The purpose is not just to provide basic aid but to acompany the beneficiaires, that in most of the cases what they really need is soemone who speak with. Throughout the years we have consolidated a great relationship with the beneficiaries and we have found out that the most rated thing by of this activity is the time shared with them.
Music For Others
Sometimes young people need a space for express themselves and behave as they really felt. A group of friends interested in music started this project three years ago to create a safe atmosphere for people who found in music and art an idoneal channel to connect with others and share their feelings, thoughts and emotions.
Besides that, within the project we also hold solidarity concerts with different purposes that can vary depending on the topic tackled. This activities are driven to let those who want to perform count on a good opportunity to show their skills and rock in the stage feeling confident and supported with their friends.
Eco-Volunteering
Our planet needs us more than we usually thought. Therefore we hold several initiatives focused on taking care of the environment and reflecting about potential measures to mitigate the damage that our daily actions can provoke.
Depending on the season of the year we celebrate different activities, such as cleaning at the parks, hiking and exploring the nature, or removing rubbish from the sea, among others.
Cooking For Others
Young people´s mental health are more vulnerable than ever as social media influence has created very demanding standards of beauty, lifestyle and body shape. This can end up with big issues such as depression, stress and presure, leading, in the worst of the cases, to eating disorders. Thus, the promotion of good abits, the prevention of eating diseases and boosting sustainable cooking practises became the subjects to address for a group of young people who shared the same passion: Cooking.
This project aims to use cooking as a way of learning and interiorising sustainable practises, healthy abits and skills. Besides that, this project also addresses the needs of the beneficiaires from the Food Distribution, as participants design a specific plann for them for the arrangement and doing the shopping of goods and products.
“Share your Christmas”
This Christmas campaign is a fundraising race to get funds to buy gifts for children at risk of exclusion from Peru and Mexico. We use to start the project in november and it lasts until january when all the money collected is sent to the local organisations from both countries. This initiative seeks to achieve that every kid enjoy the magic of Christmas and its essence. We want to draw a smile in their faces and make them experience the emotion before unpackaging their presents.
This campaign has its own website, where all the info related is available, plus videos from previous editions and the instructions to participate updated toward every year. Clike here to visit it.
