INESC TEC supported five institutions on the International Volunteer Day

Centro da Liga Portuguesa Contra o Cancro (LPCC) at IPO-Porto, Centro de Apoio ao Sem Abrigo (CASA), Hospital de S. João, Movimento de Defesa pela Vida (MDV) and Seminário Cristo Rei – these were the five institutions supported by INESC TEC on the International Volunteer Day, observed on December 5. The International Volunteer Day was established in December 1985 by the United Nations (UN), towards encouraging and valuing voluntary activities worldwide.

INESC TEC – through the Technical Committee for Social Responsibility and the Diversity and Inclusion Commission – challenged the members of its community to suggest institutions where they would like to volunteer. Several institutions were contacted, and people were able to support five of said organisations during the International Volunteer Day.

Around 20 volunteers left INESC TEC headquarters on the afternoon of December 5 to help the different institutions.

At the Centro da LPCC, located at IPO-Porto, INESC TEC volunteers supported the Christmas Fair (a fundraising campaign), by creating handicraft products, and escorted several elderly people home, using the LPCC van. In 2021, the LPCC made more than €1.5M to purchase medicines and prostheses, to ensure transportation for medical appointments and treatment sessions, and to provide food to patients in need; these activities involved almost 20 000 volunteers, supporting more than 4000 patients at elderly care centres, among other activities. There are several ways to help the LPCC: volunteer work, donations, partnerships or even by donating 0.5% of the IRS. For more information, please check the Liga’s website: https://www.ligacontracancro.pt/.

The volunteers who went to the Centro de Apoio ao Sem Abrigo (CASA) spent their afternoon taking care of storage facilities, sorting and preparing clothes that would later be distributed to people in need. In 2021, the CASA managed to take 110 people off the streets and distributed close to 600 000 hot meals. There are several ways to help this institution, namely volunteer work – field work or activities at the operational facilities – or donations. The activities of CASA are described on the institution’s website: https://casa-apoioaosemabrigo.org/. Now, the institution is lacking personal hygiene products.

At Hospital de S. João, INESC TEC volunteers had the opportunity to get to know the entire new paediatric ward of the institution, and to help patients with scheduled appointments, i.e., registering and escorting them to waiting rooms. The Hospital de São João Volunteer Association is over 30 years, and it features a team of volunteers who support the hospital’s patients, following an humanisation approach to open up to the community. Said team welcomed INESC TEC members who wanted to support the institutions. There are several ways to help this association, including donations (financial or assets), effective membership, personal or corporate volunteering. All this information is available on the Association’s website: https://www.voluntariado-hsjoao.pt/index.php.

INESC TEC volunteers who were at the Movimento de Defesa pela Vida institution helped the team members in terms of IT skills, namely concerning Dropbox account settings, Google Drive, creation of Google Forms, management of notifications on several applications installed, and audio visual editing tools, crucial to the dissemination of their activities. The MDV, founded in 1977, focuses on four major areas: family planning, family guidance and intervention, promotion of employment and social inclusion and promotion of mental health. It is possible to help through financial donations, via the institution’s website: https://www.mdvida.pt/donativos.php.

Finally, the group of INESC TEC volunteers who spent the afternoon at the Seminário Redentorista de Cristo Rei helped organising a Portuguese language class for refugees, and rearranging and cleaning two rooms. One of them is a playroom for children who live there and the other will become a leisure room for the refugees welcomed by the Seminário. Since the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, this institution has welcomed many Ukrainian refugees. At this moment, the Seminário – part of the JRS network – welcomes close to a 100 people from Ukraine, but also from other countries, like Morocco. Anyone who wishes to volunteer can contact the institution via their Facebook page. Currently, the Seminário needs carts to organise the clothing donations.