2 min.
"On this International Day for Volunteering, I would like to underline my profound gratefulness, on behalf of the country and all its institutions, for the fundamental role of volunteering and the third sector as reference points and active protagonists of our civil society.
One year ago, we celebrated together, at the Quirinale, the fundamental milestones of Italian volunteering, an extraordinarily rich, variegated and valuable phenomenon. I concluded by emphasising that volunteer work is a vital part of our life, a distinctive and characteristic element of the quality of our democracy.
As pointed out in the Italia 2011 plan – the planning document for the European Year of Volunteering – volunteer work promotes healthy relationships amongst generations, support to categories at risk of exclusion and efforts to construct opportunities for integration and reciprocal understanding in an era of great migratory flux.
We need this great school of solidarity that generously produces action, daily practice and projects that represent an essential contribution for the creation of a widespread social capital.
It is in moments of particular economic difficulty that it is of fundamental importance to support volunteer work, guarantee resources and keep true to the fundamental mission recognised by millions of citizens.”
