The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on the occasion of International Volunteer Day, has issued the following statement:
“Volunteerism is an extraordinary civil power that supports communities to tackle the challenges of our time and its difficulties. It strengthens relationships, it is close to those who need help, it reduces social gaps, promoting hospitality and sustainability.
International Volunteer Day, designated by the United Nations 36 years ago, is an occasion to express its most heartfelt gratitude to volunteers working in each part of the planet and to give the right value to the numerous testimonies of humanity and selflessness that improve our life, without which institutions and organizations wouldnot be able to fully ensure the principles to which are inspired.
We have borne witness to the importance and courage of volunteers and their organizations in the emergency caused by the epidemic. Volunteers have been at theforefront, beside doctors and nurses, to take care of ill people, to support those who were left alone, to build bonds where many risked being excluded.
Respect for people’s rights and freedom, in solidarity, is the most precious heritage that we have to pass on to new generations: volunteers contribute, indeed, to this heritage with passion and ideals, with the power of their testimony. Local, national and international institutions have volunteers and their organizations as important allies to tackle the changes needed to build a better society”.