In response to the attacks, the French Red Cross saw a 52% increase in the number of registrations. That is more than 10,000 new volunteers since September 2015, including 4,000 young people
Rising precariousness, aging of the population, isolation of the most disadvantaged, then terrorist threats and the migratory crisis … To face these major challenges, the French Red Cross continues to promote the commitment of everyone. And this communication pays off. The year 2015 was marked by an increased recruitment of new volunteers. Very encouraging news a few days before World Volunteer Day organized on Monday, December 5, 2016.
In response to the dramatic events that have occurred in recent months in our territory, the French Red Cross has recorded a 52% increase in registrations. More than 10,000 new volunteers joined its ranks since September 2015, including 4,000 young people. Thus, contrary to popular belief, young people get involved and mobilize to act against suffering. Today, the French Red Cross has nearly a quarter of volunteers under the age of 30.
Exercising active citizenship
For these committed people, volunteering appears to be a privileged place for the exercise of active citizenship which, beyond the usefulness of the action, is driven by the strengthening of social ties. 64% of volunteers consider that their activity contributes above all to strengthening the values of solidarity and citizenship and to changing mentalities, whereas they were only 16% in 2010.
And if volunteering strengthens solidarity, it is also a way for everyone to fulfill themselves as an individual, to take responsibilities and to acquire skills. “This is why the French Red Cross supports their desire to act by providing its volunteers with more than 80 training courses”, she specifies in a press release.
Project volunteering with the Red Touch platform
But faced with changing modes of engagement, the French Red Cross has decided to innovate. With an exceptional territorial network, more than a hundred different volunteer missions, it adapts and does everything it can to make volunteering accessible to all and promote the commitment of everyone, to their measure, taking into account his desires and his talents.
For example, the French Red Cross promotes project volunteering through its Red Touch platform (http://redtouch.croix-rouge.fr). This methodological and financial support program allows everyone to get involved or create a solidarity project throughout France. The association also seeks to facilitate occasional volunteering.
The actions of the French Red Cross
The French Red Cross currently has more than 58,000 volunteers and 18,000 employees who give of their time and contribute their skills. All over France (large urban areas, rural areas, suburbs), but also internationally, women and men come to the aid and support millions of people each year.
This gives 90,000 victims rescued per year and a million citizens initiated or trained in life-saving actions (massaging, defibrillating, putting on a tourniquet and treating hemorrhages); 1,200,000 received and supported for social action; 2,400,000 people assisted internationally; and 25,000 students benefiting from health and social training.
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