The idea that citizens join together to do voluntary service for the community on one day of the year has been around for many years. It originated in the USA and is firmly established in many countries around the world (Volunteer Day or Day of Caring). On Volunteers' Day, individuals, families, groups and companies voluntarily take part at the same time for 1 day on all manner of varied projects for the common good, for example in education, working with children and young people, in environmental conservation or for cultural organisations. The first German Volunteers' Day was organised in Berlin in 2001; numerous towns, but companies as well, followed this example.
The MRN has been holding a Volunteers' Day since 2008, the first region in Germany to do so. Every two years on the third Saturday in September, it offers individuals, families, company and club teams the opportunity to become involved in a project in their vicinity in an honorary capacity, not just in their home towns, but fundamentally at 290 different places in three different federal states. The motto of the MRN Volunteers' Day is "We are creating something!", thereby summing up the dual meaning of the event: On the one hand, something durable is created, while on the other hand this is achieved with greater energy and drive, because in this region the German word for "create" (schaffen) also means to work particularly enthusiastically.
6,700 people registered straightaway for the inaugural MRN Volunteers' Day and participated on around 300 good deed projects, publicly underlining the diversity of volunteer activities which already exist in the region. The second Volunteers' Day held in the MRN in 2010 was an absolute success. More than 250 projects run between Weinstrasse and Bergstrasse and between Odenwald and the Palatinate Forest fulfilled numerous hearts' desires. Several thousand people put their efforts into helping kindergartens, schools, senior citizens, the disabled and people in need.
The central information platform is the Web site wir-schafffen-was.de, which provides more information and impressions from previous Volunteers' Days.
Volunteers' Day is one of two campaigns in which the MRN is involved during the nationwide Week of Civil Involvement. At the end of this week-long event, which takes place every two years, the MRN Civil Prize is awarded in recognition of outstanding ideas for voluntary commitment in the region.
