2023-09-24 18:00:00
“How do you manage to get people excited regarding volunteer work in the future and retain them in the long term?” This question was at the center of the OÖN panel discussion “What would help the relief workers” on Saturday at the rescuers’ fair in Wels. Representatives of the Red Cross, the Workers’ Samaritan Association, the fire department and the water rescue service agreed: more full-time employees are needed in the organizations to take care of the recruitment, support and retention of volunteers.
Strengthen volunteer structure
“With professional support for volunteer work, we can strengthen the volunteer structure so that we don’t lose volunteers. And with comparatively less effort,” said Markus Voglhuber from the Upper Austria Fire Department in the talk session moderated by Markus Staudinger (OÖN).
Erich Haneschläger, regional manager of the Red Cross, emphasized that this structural support was also a central concern of the volunteer manifesto that the security and volunteer organizations launched together with the OÖN more than a year ago. “We need resources that make volunteer work possible. To look following volunteers well, you need full-time employees,” he is also convinced. Suggestions and demands were formulated in the manifesto and handed over to state politics. The first successes are the even stronger cooperation between the emergency organizations, a volunteer council and a volunteer monitor, which surveys the needs of the volunteers and a picture of the mood.
Martin Eberl, deputy state manager of water rescue, emphasized the high motivation of the volunteers who want to be challenged. “But the fact is that the number of missions is increasing. There is a fine line between demands and excessive demands,” he says, especially since there is a lot of work to be done in the background.
Wolfgang Steiner from the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Linz emphasizes that the number of volunteers remains relatively constant, but the number of hours that someone is willing to invest is decreasing. “We have to make an effort to get more people into the system so that people can continue to rely on the fact that when someone calls, manpower and womanpower are available.”
Volunteer manifesto
Together with the OÖN, the voluntary rescue and safety organizations Red Cross, Workers’ Samaritan Association, voluntary fire brigade, mountain rescue, cave rescue and civil protection association have developed a catalog of suggestions that would make the work of the voluntary organizations easier. The initiative was supported by thousands of compatriots and the volunteer manifesto was presented to state politicians.
Author
Michaela Krenn-Aichinger
Local editor Wels
Michaela Krenn-Aichinger
1695581820
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