The key purpose of volunteering is to help those in need. In addition, it provides a sense of fulfilment, offers an opportunity to get to know yourself better as well as acquire new skills and knowledge that may be beneficial when looking for a job or in everyday life situations.
Members of the Kaunas University of Applied Sciences community are more than willing to join the ranks of volunteers: from the director of the organization to employees and students who actively participate in various voluntary activities not only in KUAS as well as outside it.
The role of the organization in promoting volunteering
Kaunas University of Applied Sciences encourages volunteering of community members and seeks to publicize such activities; consequently, students and teachers who dedicate their time become an example for the rest. “KUAS promotes volunteering both among its employees and students, therefore it can be noticed that a significant part of our employees engages in voluntary activities. We strive for the activities of the volunteers to be publicized to showcase these good examples,” says Paulius Baltrušaitis, the director of KUAS, who has been volunteering in the Riflemen’s Union for the last 6 years.
One of the biggest events of our university the so-called Career Days would not take place without the participation of voluntary organizations that introduce students to various activities. “The annual Career Days event is attended by volunteer organizations that present themselves and the work ethics during the event. KUAS itself carries out various campaigns as well. All of this provides a broader sense of organizations and volunteering to our students. We also have plans for volunteering to be counted as part of studies,” says P. Baltrušaitis.
Employees are eagerly involved in volunteering
The community members of KUAS willingly participate in various initiatives organized by the university as well as find opportunities to become self-actualized by doing good work in organizations dedicated to volunteer service. Rasa Gaižiūnaitė, a specialist at our Study Department, has been a volunteer at Vaikų linija for 8 years, helping children who need support and compassion. “One of my friends encouraged me to become a volunteer saying that I am quite a good listener. I have noticed that people tend to confide in me that is why chose such voluntary activity whose main task is to help children and teenagers find solutions to their problems.” According to Gaižiūnaitė, volunteering helps with self-actualization and acquiring new skills and knowledge. “While attending the preparatory courses at Vaikų linija, I learned to recognize emotions of others as well as my own, endure a difficult or joyful moment together, be objective, keep irrelevant advice to myself, and together with the children find the best solutions for their situation. Additionally, I teach students about volunteering in the Social Work programme, so it is important to provide examples to students not only from different sources but also from my personal experience.”
Rūta Lukianskytė, the head of the Kaunas group of the Order of Malta Relief Organisation and a lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine of KUAS, has been volunteering for 15 years. She says “For me, volunteering is self-realization and continuous improvement. It is delightful to see the sincere work of volunteers who do it “from the bottom of their heart” rather than lead by financial incentives. Besides, I would say that volunteering requires maturity and ability to see the true meaning of it.” Lukianskytė also reveals that volunteers come to the Order of Malta with similar goals. They want to become self-actualized, use their time well or even acquire certain competencies. According to the interviewee, volunteering makes you more resilient, teaches you not to give in to sadness, and influences people around you to do good. The lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine says she is happy that not only financially stable people get involved in volunteering but students as well. “During the first lecture, I always get to know my new students, and I am delighted to hear that most of them have already gained experience in various voluntary activities.”
Volunteering allows us to help others as well as to learn about ourselves
Rokas Savickas, a graduate of the Radiology study programme at the Faculty of Medicine of KUAS, says that he discovered volunteering unexpectedly and is happy to be given the opportunity to help the country during the pandemic. His main duties working at the coronavirus hotline were to answer the incoming phone calls and appoint time at mobile checkpoints. Savickas says that the best reward is the inner feeling that comes from volunteering. “One of the many reasons volunteering is important to me is that inner feeling, simply because my study programme is closely related to helping people.” Savickas says he is delighted with great numbers of volunteers at the coronavirus hotline. “When I started volunteering at the hotline, I was excited to see so many young faces. I would also like to add that quite a few students from the KUAS community were volunteering here, which made me even happier. In my opinion, everyone should at least give volunteering a try as it helps to discover your personality traits and shapes you as an individual. Additionally, the experience gained during volunteering will be beneficial in the future, whether it’s for a job search or something else,” Savickas concludes the conversation by encouraging everyone to try any voluntary activity.
