This article speaks concretely about volunteering and will be more than mere words, because it comes from the lived experience of Mario Antonio Clerici, our devoted reader and a Red Cross volunteer. From his pen comes a vivid testimony of what it means to be a volunteer and what it concretely means to draw close to others.
The joy of closeness to rediscover volunteering
These are difficult times, the ones we are living through. Among the many pieces of news, there is one that may have been underestimated, but that cannot leave us indifferent. More precisely, it is a figure - apparently cold, like all statistical figures - released by Istat (2023), reporting a decline of 600,000 volunteers in Italy between 2016 and 2021. Specialists commented on the issue to some extent and linked it to the declining birth rate, new post-Covid lifestyles, and the transformation of many volunteer roles into “structured” positions, that is, positions with employment contracts. Then the discussion ended, recognizing, in light of less continuity in participation, a kind of “fluid” dimension to volunteering.
As a non-specialist in statistics, I limit myself to receiving these reflections with due respect; nevertheless, as an emergency-response volunteer - I work in a section of the Red Cross, in the province of Como, in northern Italy - I can only read the Istat report as indicating a loss of wealth for the country, for the community, for each of us. As a Catholic, I go further, if possible. I believe that this “fluid volunteering” makes the joy of closeness evaporate. A word lived to the core by those who place themselves at the service of need. Or rather, of those in need.
Yes, because it seems to me that discussion of the crisis in volunteering (there are certainly exceptions) is moving further and further away from the heart of the problem, which can be summed up in one question: why do we struggle to hear the “call” of others?
The volunteer gives their life
At the root of any form of voluntary service, that is, service not motivated by financial compensation or any benefit, but solely by offering oneself - yes, it means giving one's life, even if only for a few hours a week - I see the response to a call. Where does it come from? Who is calling me? I think that today, more than ever, reflections on the great existential questions are not accepted in any way, especially by younger generations, unless they are imbued with personal experience.
Pope Francis is very clear on this point in his catecheses and writings. As a longtime Red Cross volunteer, for example, I keep certain words from the 2019 apostolic exhortation “Christus Vivit” as a compass: a «not create projects that isolate young people from their families and the world», but on the contrary, «projects that strengthen them, accompany them, and launch them toward meeting others, generous service, and mission».
I firmly believe that this is precisely what is lacking today in the many fields of volunteering: testimony. But testimony to what? The key word is the very last one in Pope Francis’s quotation: “mission.”
The “calling” to a volunteer’s mission
We are sent toward others because we are called. The same thing happened to me. When I think about it, it seems that everything happened by chance, yet nothing is without a reason, not even an invitation from a gas-cylinder dealer. His name was Piero; he had come to my house to deliver the supplies - back then, in the early 1980s, people in my area still used gas cylinders - and, while chatting about this and that, he casually made a proposal. “Why don’t you come to the course for volunteer rescuers too?” Just like that. The local Red Cross branch did not yet exist, but Piero, a true visionary, was working on the project. At that moment, after a polite smile and a half-hearted “yes,” I thought to myself that I would not follow through. I was twenty, but already a family man, with two very young children, a demanding job, and a wife who needed my support; it did not seem possible to fit this additional commitment into my schedule. Yet that call immediately began working within me, gradually breaking down all the “buts” and “I can’ts” and opening up prospects for personal growth.
If this happened, if the idea of becoming a volunteer rescuer did not fade away, as it might have, it is because I took a moment to listen. Not alone, but with my wife. We talked about it, and she supported me, encouraging me.
Someone calls us to draw near
The shortage of volunteers, felt since the pandemic period, has often led us to reflect on how to bring new energy to rescue associations. All strategies have value. I think, however, that nothing is more effective than directly communicating the experience, because it means speaking the “same language”, regardless of specializations or educational backgrounds, beyond age and social status.
Talking about volunteering is perhaps the most beautiful way to renew the value of “vocation”, an experience that touches each of us in a different, unique way, but which we often let slip away, thereby losing an extraordinary opportunity for change. There is always someone else with us. Someone who calls us.
As a believer, my reference point is always the Gospel. I think that, regardless of whether or not one has faith in God, no one can remain indifferent to the parable of the Good Samaritan told by the evangelist Luke (Lk 10:25-37), without being touched by the sensitivity of the man who, while traveling, stops to help a poor man who has been beaten and robbed. Some pass by, but the Samaritan feels compassion and goes far beyond offering momentary comfort. He pours oil and wine on the wounded man's wounds, lifts him onto his own animal, and entrusts him to the care of an innkeeper.
Episodes of this kind happen all the time. We are all, to some extent, like the Levite who passes by the poor man and does nothing. I do not feel entitled to judge anyone, because many times, even with the best intentions, we are overwhelmed by our commitments or worries, without realizing that perhaps just a few steps away, there is someone much more burdened by life. Perhaps what we need is to stop and reflect, asking ourselves whom we consider our neighbor and how we should and could become a neighbor to others.
Volunteering is a vocation, an experience that enriches both those who live it and those who receive it. Answering this call means opening your heart and your hands, allowing yourself to be guided by compassion and the desire to serve.
And you, today, have you ever stopped to ask yourself: “Who is my neighbor? How can I become a neighbor?” Perhaps the answer is already there, beside you, waiting for you to decide to listen.
