UzhNU is planning to reward students for participation in volunteering activities
On the occasion of the International Volunteer Day, volunteers of Uzhhorod National University gathered in the meeting hall of the Academic Council to summarize the achievements of the Association of Volunteers in 2021, award the most active volunteers and discuss further development of the association as an NGO.
Hanna Melehanych, the coordinator of the Associaton of Volunteers of Uzhhorod National University, outlined that over 3 years of the association’s activity more than 120 people joined the volunteer movement - from freshers to a vice-rector.
“In 2021, we continued to work in the directions we had outlined previously as the most important for us, e.g. we helped boarding schools for children and the elderly, animal shelters, participated in organizing charity races, donated blood, took part in national and city charity and environmental events. We also helped the military, socially vulnerable groups, children and university students with serious diseases. We also discovered a new area of activity whch involves helping doctors and patients with COVID-19 in the Transcarpathia."
The most enjoyable part of the meeting is not only to summarize the charity events the volunteers organized and took part in, but also to share the results and stories with the happy end. For example, they managed to raise money for an oxygen concentrator for the Transcarpathian Center for Lung Diseases in just one week. Another outstanding achievement of theirs is raising over $ 1,000 for the treatment of UzhNU student Iryna Medvid. Rector's assistant Kristina Tovt informed that the girl had been operated on in the summer and she was gradually returning to normal life.
UzhNU volunteers also joined the all-Ukrainian charitable campaign Heart to Heart. This year, thanks to the joint efforts of concerned Transcarpathians, our region became the second in the amount of funds raised in Ukraine with a result of over 400 thousand hryvnias. The money will be used to purchase equipment for several neonatology departments of children's hospitals in the Transcarpathian region.
Finally, an agreement was reached and a constituent assembly was held to establish the NGO “Volunteers UzhNU”.
Vice-rector Myroslava Lendel remarked: "Three years ago, when the Association of Volunteers first appeared at Uzhhorod National University, we immediately considered establishing an NGO. However, we did not know whether it would be possible to create a permanent core of active volunteers. Students come and go, and an NGO needs people who will support it all the time. At present, we can see that we have a foundation, a living organization. When we announced fundraising for charity, we were faced with the problem of what to raise money for. Now we can save money on our account, and provide our expense reports. In addition, there are a lot of opportunities to accumulate funds from international organizations, as we see from the example of the NGO "Volunteers of Transcarpathia", we are collaborating with. That is, we will not be limited by the funds collected at our university only."
The need to encourage students to participate in a volunteer movement was also discussed. A student and a volunteer Mariia Yurina said that she had discussed this issue with the rector of Uzhhorod National University Volodymyr Smolanka. As a result of their conversation it was decided that the program of loyalty to active students would be enshrined in the charter of the newly created organization.
In order to join the Volunteer organization, one should fill in the form. Current announcements can be followed on the Facebook page
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