Published: 08.11.2018.
On October 30, within the premises of the Latvian National Library (LNL), was held the closing event of the campaign “My 100 Voluntary Work Hours for Latvia” organised by the Latvian Red Cross (LatRC). During the event were congratulated 54 most active participants of the campaign who came to the event (total number 62) – people aged from 6 to 76 who in their everyday lives during 2018 have selflessly helped other people, presenting their voluntary work as a present in centenary of the statehood of Latvia and centenary of LatRC. Participants have registered their work hours (more than 100 h) on the online platform 100stundas.redcross.lv.
Before the official part of the event, everyone could view the exhibition devoted to centenary of LatRC at LNL: “Beginning of the Mission. Latvian Red Cross 1918–1940”.
The event for celebrating the volunteers was opened by Mr. Viktors Jaksons, the President of LatRC, who greeted the audience with an inspiring speech and gratitude for socially responsible participation on behalf of the public. The participants were also addressed by the representative of the Ministry of Education and Science, Alma Brinkmane, who expressed her gratitude to each person for the work they had done.
Māra Upmane – Holšteine and Juris Kalnišs from the band “Astro’n’out” shared their experience in voluntary work and provided joy and inspiration by their musical performances. All 54 volunteers were greeted by the President of LatRC Viktors Jaksons and Youth Manager of LatRC Sigita Skujiņa.
Also, the 8 most active local governments of the Latvian regions were congratulated – Riga, Valmiera and Daugavpils cities, as well as municipalities of Rūjiena, Brocēni, Koknese, Daugavpils and Jelgava. The users of these regions have registered the greatest number of hours in the platform 100stundas.redcross.lv.
In total, the campaign gathered 264 people from 68 regions, registering more than 10,000 voluntary work hours on the platform. Platform 100.stundas.redcross.lv will be active in future as well, therefore, LatRC invites everyone to use it and to continue to register their voluntary work hours.
The purpose of the campaign “My 100 Voluntary Work Hours for Latvia” is to improve the registration system of the voluntary movement of LatRC and to implement new initiatives for public involvement in voluntary work, especially in remote regions of Latvia. During the project, was also created an online platform where everyone can register, record the time they have spent in voluntary work, upload photographs and descriptions of the work, while also being able to see the work of other people.
This initiative is supported by the Society Integration Foundation within the framework of NGO programme, the Latvian Red Cross and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies within Empress Shôken Fund.