“100,000 arguments for volunteer services – my FWD story” – these are personal stories from volunteers about what their volunteer service has brought them. These were presented to the Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth on September 23rd by six volunteers, including Carina, Evelyne and Lilli from the voluntary services for culture and education, on behalf of the 100,000 people who do voluntary service every year. Anja Stahmann, State Secretary, took time for a personal exchange.
Carina is doing her FSJ Culture at the Astrid Lindgren stage in the FEZ Berlin, where she has taken on tasks such as assistant director and in the costume department. Evelyne, who is doing her FJ participation in the VCD Brandenburg deployment center, said: “I am proud of myself and this year because I have repeatedly overcome my social phobias thanks to my BFD.” Lilli has gone to the Ludwig Hoffmann Foundation for her volunteer year. I went to primary school and now she knows: “Now I am sure that I want to become a primary school teacher and I can trust my ability to deal with children. I would do a BFD again at any time.”
Last year, the voluntary services attracted a lot of public attention. With over 100,000 signatures, the “Strengthen Voluntary Service” petition was one of the most successful petitions submitted to the German Bundestag last year. The petition called for the strengthening of voluntary services and an improvement in the general conditions. The petition showed that voluntary services have broad social support. The #küztunsnichtweg campaign last autumn was also about preventing the threatened cuts in the federal budget. Even now there is often a question of cuts, which is why the social importance of voluntary services must be emphasized.
For the voluntary services for culture and education, the sponsors and the Federal Association for Cultural Child and Youth Education (BKJ) work together in an association. Democracy & Dialogue e. V. is part of this association with the FJ investment. Together they campaign for better framework conditions and against cuts in voluntary services.
