Why volunteering? Because you do make a difference!

2011 is the European Year of Volunteering which indicates that there are a lot of opportunities in addition to the regular volunteer activities such as assisting humanitarian and fund raising events in your town, promoting sustainable development, organising awareness raising for the citizens and young people or even as simple pastime as collecting clothes or books for people in need or collecting trash and keeping your neighbourhood clean. The scope is unlimited and there is no need for funds or others to tell you what to do, what you need is motivation and determination. 

Did you know that it is also the International Year of Youth from Aug 2010 – Aug 2011 by the United Nations? The initiative aims to actively involve young people in addressing global problems and provide sustainable and creative solutions for issues that do not distinguish between generations. Often the easiest solution lies in the mind of youngsters and even the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon acknowledged „ As we expand our efforts, we must do even more to reach out, to listen and to learn from young people.”

Would you like to get involved and do something for others while doing your traineeship at the European Commission? Follow our activities and let us know if you want to participate in them. We have plenty of them with the goal to raise funds for the water pump for a clinic in Madagascar!

Schuman Trophy Tournament success

11 enthusiastic Solidarité members contributed to the success of this year's Schuman Trophy Football Tournament. The 5 days event took place on the first weekends of May with wonderful weather, exciting football games and a great atmosphere. 26 teams were kicking the ball bringing together staff of the European Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe and even employees from the United Nations and football teams from abroad (for example Morocco). DG Interpretation from the EC won the tournament with outstanding performance.

More important is the fact that the tournament does not only serve as entertainment and competition between the teams but it is also a charity initiative and all income from the tournament will go for a good cause: supporting the charity initiatives of the Schuman Trophy association in helping deprived children in the poorest parts of the world. Some 4000 people showed up at the location in Overijse, outside Brussels and contributed to the great cause by consuming and buying tombola tickets.

Almost a dozen trainees volunteered at the tournament giving a hand in selling drinks and ice-cream, this way directly contributing to raising funds for the support of their fellow youngsters in developing countries. Thanks to Shuveta Sekhri, Marite Jankelevica, Csilla Szabo, Taru Itaniemi, Lea Kulick, Diana Calmac, Joanna Dynek, Renata Radvanska, Lars Wirbatz, Kamila Piotrowska and Aude Van Grootenbruel for their help attesting the truth laying in this traineeship cycle's Solidarité slogan: "Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only little."

Solidarité members in the soup kitchen

We took on the aprons with excitement. How will it go? Will our help mean something for them?

They arrived, they already knew how it works. We prayed and then started distributing the food. Often we heard "encore s'il vous plait" and hesitated because if you give more to one, another might stay hungry... But fortunately there was enough. Even salad and some dessert. One said "merci, vous faitez un bon travail".

The second group was also nice, they appreciated the warm lunch and some of them stayed to help cleaning. They spoke many languages and they were joking around trying to guess where we were from. Nice athmosphere.

After this experience we wonder how it will feel to see them on the street. We often just ignored them sitting at the entrance of the subway... We were told besides the meal we should provide a bit of "friendship". Now it makes sense and we understand why. They are ignored on the street while they are the exact same people as us. And food or money do not make people happy, often a few nice words or even a simple smile can do the trick ...

This was the first volunteering experience of Solidarité members in the Summer 2011 Stage with the Sisters of Mother Teresa in Brussels. Definitely not the last one.

First day of the Schuman Trophy Tournament!

7th of May, 2011 Saturday - 1st day of the Schuman Trophy Tournament

Cool drinks and ice-cream...

Beautiful weather with endless sunshine...

Engaging football games and hot football players...

A number of business cards collected, connections made...

Enthusiastic organisers and volunteers forming a delightful community...

Wonderful environment in the village of Overijse surrounded by green fields...

Having fun, relax and a nice day out in fresh air with great people...

and all this for a good cause - to raise funds for supporting deprived children!!!

Urgent call for Volunteers for Schuman Trophy Football Tournament!

Schuman Trophy is a non-profit association founded by fonctionnaires focused on helping deprived children. Their yearly fundraising event is an inter-institutional football tournament taking place on the weekends of 7th, 8th, 9th May and 14th, 15th May. 

The tournaments attract some 3000 people and the atmosphere is just unforgettable. Among contestants EU officials and stagiaires are both present. Even Mr. Van Rompuy participated last year click to see video.

The Schuman Trophy is looking for volunteers to help out on those weekends to sell food/drinks, tombola tickets and merchandise (souvenirs, mugs, CDs). The money raised by this fundraising activity will all go to support deprived, poor children living in poverty and bad hygienic conditions! If you are willing to spare half a day for a rewarding cause, please contact Shuveta Sekhri to express interest.

Thank you!

Volunteer for Amnesty International on Mother's Day!

Amnesty International are organizing a Mother's Day Action this Saturday 7th May. In a bookshop (Waterstones, Avenue de Anspach) Amnesty International will be handing out flowers to all the women in the store to raise awareness about the situation of women in Guatemala. A postcard attached to each flower will explain the plight of the women in Guatemala, where two women a day are murdered and the killers are most of the time not brought to justice. The Amnesty group would like volunteers to help out on this action from 11am to 5pm - you don't have to volunteer for the whole day, a couple of hours suffice. 

If you would like more information and want to be part of this Mother's Day Action, please contact Antsje DE-BOER.

Soup kitchen

Raquel Ferreira-E-Veiga has taken the initiative to organize the participation of Solidarité members in the Soup Kitchen. The Soup Kitchen consists of assisting Les Missionnaires de la Charité (Sisters of Mother Theresa) in providing a friendly meal to the homeless people of Brussels. The tasks involve helping the Sisters to prepare the meal, setting the tables, serving the meal and cleaning up. The activity takes place on Saturday or Sunday for about 3 hours. If you would like to participate in the Soup Kitchen please contact Raquel on eu.soup.kitchen@gmail.com.