3rd Meeting 4 – 7 July 2012Klaipeda, Lithuania

Senior Volunteering in Europe

GRU-11-P-LP-79-TL-AT

Volunteering is one of the activities most favoured by the students of our school. Here are some examples of activities with students coordinated by our teachers or by senior volunteers from other organizations.

“LET`S DO IT !” Romania - 2012 On June 12th 2012, at the national level, the campaign ‘Let’s do it, Romania!’ gathered thousands of Romanian volunteers to do ecological activities on the outskirts of the localities.

The main objectives were:- to form a conscious and responsible attitude towards the environment and to administer the waste products;- to do some ecological activities around some areas of Tulcea town;- to preserve biodiversity and to reduce the polluted areas in our county.

“Let’s do it, Romania!” invited to work 2,907 people, out of which 60 students were from our highschool, being guided by five teachers. The students of our school were distributed to do ecological activities around the Complex LIDL, on the outskirts of the town, on the way to Cataloi village.

At the end of this activity 70 bags of waste products were collected. We hope that the people who have proved lack of civic sense so far, will not throw garbage randomly any more.

We have a partnership with the orphanage “COCORII” , which is close to our school. There are 13 children between 5 and 9 years old. The latest visits were in April and May, when the students gave them some presents made by them and some fruit and sweets.

Elena: ”The kids were very pleased to see us and to play with us and we could read happiness on their faces. It was very touching and that moment really moved us all. We spent some quality time with these wonderful children”.

Rafaela: The happiness on their faces was amazing but, behind their priceless smiles there was deep sadness because of the lack of affection. I was glad I could bring happiness even for just a few moments. I know I did something right and I will repeat this experience whenever I have the chance.

Madalina: It was a special moment , but also sad, because all the children were very surprised to see us and some of them started to cry. They were very pleased to see us, and they also liked our presents. I think they felt the warmth of a family . It was a nice moment and we were glad to give them a little bit of happiness.

Volunteering with RoRec

“The Recycling Patrol” is a project founded by the Romanian Recycling Association – RoRec - in a partnership with the City Halls and The County School Inspectorates. The aim is to implement recycling schemes of the used electronic and electrical appliances (DEEE).

“The Recycling Patrol” functions as a volunteering educational programme centered on collecting and recycling used electronic and electrical appliances in schools, in order to reach the European quota of 41 kg per citizen annually.

The 2011-2012 edition of the project “Recycling Patrol” took place between 25 November 2011-15 June 2012.

Students involved in the programme received the programme’s leaflet in one of the three forms available, especially created for the three types of target group of students: pre-schoolers, elementary and high school students.

Recycling Kits have been installed consisting of 3 cardboard containers for the collection of used electronic and electrical appliances, light bulbs and batteries.

The students of the Pedagogical High School enrolled in the “Recycling Patrol” under the coordination of the teacher Narcisa Radion collected 47 kg of DEEE per students, 10 times more than the European quota.

Volunteering with CIEMD: “The Treasure in the Waste-bin”

On 2 April 2012, the students from the eleventh grade of the Pedagogical High School, together with their teacher Mrs Monica Petre, volunteered for the Center of Information and Education in the Management of Wastes (C.I.E.M.D.) – an activity organized and led by the Director, Mrs Claudia Iosifescu, on the occasion of the World Day of Birds. The main objectives: attracting the students in activities of knowing nature and educating them in the spirit of protecting the environment. Tools: short movies and PPS.

On the 3rd of April the students of X B became volunteers for C.I.E.M.D. for a day. The topic was “The Treasure in the Waste-bin”.After the presentation of some interesting and attractive movies, made both by Mrs Iosifescu and the students,

the practical activity began: making decorative objects from napkins and plastic bottles. The young volunteers also improved their technique in re-decorating some older objects and learned an interesting way to paint Easter eggs, using crepe paper.

At the end of the activity the students, accompanied by a group of pre-schoolers, used “the treasure in the waste-bin” (i.e. the wastes) in order to make bird houses and they mounted them in the trees in the park nearby.

I applied questionnaires to a sample of 30 students and 18 teachers on 27th and 30th of May 2012.

Here are the questions they had to answer:

Who is a volunteer? What does “volunteering” mean? What do volunteers need?

What Does Volunteering Mean?

1)Volunteering means actions for the benefit of the community; not paid, benevolent; it means to help where the society needs more support for solving its problems; the exchange between the individual and the society is a win-win situation.2)It’s an activity in which you can give help to people around you, according to your abilities. “Help” is the reference word here.

1) In volunteering it is educated persons who get more involved, because they understand the importance of these activities and they consider them above the personal financial benefits. They are of various ages and they probably had the opportunity to see such activities abroad.

2) Generally speaking, it is young and retired people who are more involved in volunteering activities, trying to have new experiences or exercising their well known abilities.

Who Is A Volunteer?

The results of the questionnaires applied to students

The results of the questionnaires applied to teachers