Network of CPVs celebrates International Volunteer Day
The United Nations celebrates International Volunteer Day on 5 December. This day, all over the world, offers a unique opportunity to give thanks for all the efforts made by volunteers, as well as to promote their values and publicise their achievements.
This year’s inspirational theme was volunteering now for our common future, highlighting how together we can build a more prosperous future, ensuring inclusion and service to the most vulnerable. Engaging, recognising and promoting volunteering is an important part of creating a more equal and inclusive future.
Virtual meeting of Marist leaders
On 6 December, to celebrate International Volunteer Day, Cmi promoted a virtual meeting, with 170 participants, brothers and lay people, with the presence of the Network of Volunteer Coordinators, pastoralists and volunteers. It was an opportunity to thank the volunteers and to raise awareness of the need to promote Marist volunteering.
Ernesto Sánchez, Superior General, underlined the relevance of the mission of the volunteers in the Institute from the perspective of availability and the construction of a global charismatic family at the service of those most in need.
Br. Valdicer Fachi, director of CMI, invited all those present to go ahead and look for alternative and creative ways of volunteering, responding to the needs of today’s world. He also expressed his gratitude for all the service provided by the network of PCVs and for the generosity and example of so many Marist volunteers around the world.
In the videos below, produced for this moment, the protagonists speak about what it means to be a volunteer.
Marist Volunteering
As Marists we believe that volunteering, by contributing to the development of the culture of solidarity, is an effective instrument for building the culture of encounter, which establishes links between nations and between cultures; it is a powerful tool for sharing knowledge, skills and values, which contributes significantly to the reduction of poverty. We are invited to be open, simple and available, locally or globally, as volunteers, going beyond geographical or provincial borders; to know in depth our world in continuous transformation and to face the current challenges; to abandon the culture of egos and to promote resonance, diminishing the scandal of indifference and inequalities; to be agents of change, bridge builders, messengers of peace, committed to transforming life and the immediate situations in which we are immersed; to convert our hearts and make our structures more flexible, without fear of taking risks, in order to reach out to the peripheries, in defence of the poorest and most vulnerable.