A volunteer youth center opened in Rostov-on-Don

On September, 27, the first youth volunteer club "I am a Volunteer" opened in Rostov-on-Don.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that the new organization's mission was to form a "culture of social devotion" among the children and young people of Rostov-on-Don. 

In connection with opening of the center all the volunteers received certificates. It was decided that they would organize Volunteer's Day once a month and volunteer actions twice a month.

"The first action the young volunteers of the new center will undertake is the one called "Upon the Call of Heart" devoted to Elderly People's Day. On this day the volunteers will help lonely elderly people. Besides, we are planning to set up a database of elderly people in need of help residing in all the districts of Rostov-on-Don. We want to place this base on our web-site for the information to be accessible to anyone and all comers could help", Alexander Pilipenko, originator of the center and Chairman of Youth Council of Rostov-on-Don, said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. 

According to Olga Vashenko, Director of the Central municipal children's library named after Lenin, this kind of collaboration with young volunteers benefits the whole community.

Anastasia Tereshenko, first-year student of the Southern State University, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the young volunteers had a lot of ideas. 

"I became a volunteer two years ago when I was elected member of Youth Council as a representative of my school. Then I came to know about volunteer movement and got interested in it. I am presently teaching computer literacy to elderly people", Anastasia Tereshenko says.

Student Ilya Zaitsev became a volunteer quite recently. "I started volunteer activities in May. Youth Council of Sovietsky district of Rostov-on-Don involved me in this movement. I was first elected member of the Council and then its chairman. The point is that social activities in youth policy go hand in hand with volunteer movement. Realization of municipal youth projects is often a volunteer action, too. It is a good union", Ilya Zaitsev considers.

Three more volunteer centers are expected to be opened in Rostov-on-Don until the end of the year. They will include a number of spheres: informational and consultative work with the citizens, organization of a home-nursing service for disabled children and elderly people, planning and implementation of educative volunteer projects and initiatives.