In Social Promotion Foundation we celebrate this Day by thanking our volunteers for their participation and dedication, capable of transforming the reality that surrounds them, and their own, through their commitment and voluntary action.
We share the conversation we had with Jesús, our volunteer coordinator of the hiking program in the AMAS (Madrid Agency for Social Care) Centers.
FPS: Jesus, you have worked in the Madrid Social Care Agency, you are a doctor… Could you briefly tell us about your previous experience in relation to volunteering?
Jesús: I have worked for many years, as I am older, many years as a doctor, as director of various Centers for both the elderly and people with intellectual disabilities and a few years as Coordinator of Centers of the Regional Social Welfare Service, today AMAS.
As a volunteer I have participated in several calls for the Food Bank in their stores and I have been a volunteer for years at the Red Cross, where I participated in various programs and gave colloquium talks on topics related to medicine.
FPS: Tell us about the leisure activity and accompaniment with users of occupational centers in natural and open spaces. What is a normal day like?
Jesús: In this hiking program in the AMAS Centers there are two sections, one directed to Occupational Centers with a higher level of physical skills, which allows them to undertake more complicated roads, and another section of Centers for the severely affected (CADP), which due to their functional limitations require simpler and shorter paths. In the first group there are eight Occupational Centers and in the second of CADP 5 Centers.
The Centers are summoned at a specific time in a place with good bus access from where it begins, the chosen places are within the Community of Madrid, mainly in the mountains but without ruling out for the lower levels, parks, meadows. These routes range from 14 -15 km to 6-7 km in the shortest ones. The precise stops are made depending on the circumstances and always at lunchtime, each user has their food prepared from the Center or from their home.
The number of participants ranges from 80 or 90 of Occupational Centers to 20 or 30 of CADP with an approximate distribution between men and women.
FPS: Do they like the activity? How do they participate? What effect does this activity have on them?
Jesús: When there are climbs, rough terrain or after many kilometers and there is a feeling of fatigue, the guys complain, but like us. They love the feeling of goal accomplished, the relationship with their peers, the continuous laughter and jokes, giving them a sense of freedom that they never have in the Centers.
There may be occasional suffering before an effort but they always repeat and ask plaintiffs when is the next exit and where.
FPS: What is the accompaniment in vacation periods?
Jesús: It is another of the programs of the Coordination for the Disabled with the greatest demand and that creates the most expectations.
Within this program is the vacation, which is looking as its word says something similar to vacations for users of the Centers, in places on the beach or in the mountains with multiple recreational activities, and visits to nearby areas, etc.
And the other aspect is that of hiking, which is a vacation alternative but focused on hiking in appropriate areas for it and with valued and condensed routes, also lasting five or six days.
FPS: Do you think that you can contribute with your experience to the future feedback and practical advice for our young professional volunteers who carry out their leisure and accompaniment volunteering activity at the C.O. Barajas? Do you think the exchange of experience is enriching?
Jesús: It is important that before a first contact with users of our Centers, the young volunteers have both a theoretical and practical approach. They are mostly very affectionate and friendly people but it is advisable to have some basic notions of ways to interact with them and the possible risks to prevent.
FPS: (In relation to the Volunteer Day). What is the value of volunteering for you? What effects does it have for the volunteer? What does it mean for you?
Jesus: In all facets of life, how much the presence of trained volunteers would change how much the presence of trained volunteers would enrich us, and possibly how our society would improve.
I think it is vital, and in my case, I need to do some volunteer activity as a thank you for what life has given me and the intention of giving a small part back to those who need it.
#TogetherWeCan #VolunteerNow #IVD2021 #InternationalVolunteerDay