Volunteer Work - Turku (and beyond?)

[Torrin]

Hello

Im new to the forum, English speaker, very little Finnish knowledge.

Im also trying to find a job (sems a lot of people on here are trying to do that!)

One of the posts i read had an interesting idea in it - Volunteer Work. This may be a great way to network as the poster suggested and also pick up some more Finnish along the way. Plus it will get me out of the house, as theres only so many hours in the day you can spend on a laptop searching for work.

I havent started making a detailed search yet, but im wondering if anyone here knows of any Volunteer Work available in the Turku region?

Ill post any i find myself.

Cheers

[blaugrau]

Hi!

One potential opportunity that comes to mind are the charity shops, you could go and ask there (although some of them are of course faith-based organisations, don't know if that's your thing:
- Salvation army (Pelastusarmeija)
- Lähimmäinen (the one opposite the city library)
- UFF (which is not faith-bascd AFAIK, Humalistonkatu).
- There's also the EMMAUS fleamarket (which has environmental/fairtrade ideas behind it, nothing religious) on Kirkontie
- and perhaps Ekotori (the furniture charity shop, also on Kirkontie) could need help (the shop is itself a recylcling/social project, and most of the staff are long-term unemployed people, if I recall correctly).
- Then there's Uusi Tuuli (New Wind), a fairtrade/recycling NGO which runs a bike fleamarket, where it might be possible to join as a bike repairer (they always have volunteers and normally teach you the skills needed, as far as I know).

Perhaps it'd be worth checking out also
- Red Cross Finland: general contact info of the Turku office: http://www.redcross.fi/aktiivit/piirit/ ... itoimisto/
They run a youth emergency shelter project and according to their website they are always interested in people helping with various tasks there, check http://www.redcross.fi/apuajatukea/nuor ... _GB/index/

- Then there's the voluntary work organisation KVT, they normally organise summer voluntary work camps, but often also have stuff going on during the year -- don't know whether most of that stuff is Helsinki-based though, but I imagine they would know of general voluntary work possibilities and might give you some more hints or info: http://www.kvtfinland.org/index.php/kvt-in-english.html

Good luck!

[Torrin]

Thanks for your response.

One thing that i need to check is whether volunteer work will have an impact on any job seekers benefit that i may be entitled to.

According to my Finnish girlfriend, it might. Something ill have to speak to the job center about i think, as though im not getting benefits right now (and god knows i dont want them, i want a job!) its something that i cannot let be affected by volunteering.

[Pursuivant]

Yeah, the Finnish benefit system is based on the "sit on your ass and be available if miracle happens" instead of doing "something sensible", but volunteering should be OK as long as you don't get anything out of it - or studying in evening school as long as its not "studying".

[Upphew]

Yeah, the Finnish benefit system is based on the "sit on your ass and be available if miracle happens" instead of doing "something sensible", but volunteering should be OK as long as you don't get anything out of it - or studying in evening school as long as its not "studying".

And the organization must be nonprofit, so watch out community efforts and companies...

[archery01]

Check out more opportunities here: volunteer work abroad