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Editorial: Volunteers can do anything

Climate Aid concert at the end of November at Helsinki Music Hall was a powerful effort involving dozens of music professionals and enthusiasts as well as others interested in the event. The concert and the children´s and youth events organized alongside wouldn’t have been possible without an extensive contribution of volunteers.      

What made people spend their time on planning, arrangements or practicing musical productions? The volunteers I interviewed were motivated by the topic itself, climate change. It was important to do something for climate. To show that warming of the climate is a serious issue for which everybody must work. In addition to the issue which is important to them they disclosed an opportunity to meet new people and to learn new things.   

In the latest Valikkojulkaisu (volunteer coordinator network’s yearly publication), scientists Henrietta Grönlund and Anne Birgitta Pessi mention, for example, that in volunteering one can experience the most profound experiences of significance in connection with others. We can share a common experience, be involved, participate.

Being a participant and being involved is one of the goals that Kansalaisareena pursues. Our mission is to promote volunteering conditions and to offer support and tools to improve the quality of volunteering. Through volunteering we can build trust between people and communities as well as create social capital. 

Building trust is something I also want to work for. That’s why I’m very excited about my new job as Executive Director of Kansalaisareena. This is just the right place to make Finland a little better!

Partnership and solidarity were also palpable at the Climate Aid concert. The further the evening progressed, the more visibly the concert showed that this would not have been possible without the input of every volunteer. Everyone played an important role in the creation of the whole.

I can only imagine what kind of impression this kind of implementation can leave in the minds of the people involved. And I wish that each of us, in turn, could experience being part of something that is important to herself/himself!

Text: Elina Varjonen
Executive Director of Kansalaisareena

Translation: Kati Merikoski

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