On 27 September, Serve the City organized its first team-building event for a group of 15 fonctionnaires from the European Commission. This particular team, the Citizens’ policy unit (DG Communication) is in charge of implementing a EU programme called ” Europe for citizens”.
The programme has different action lines, such as town twinning, citizens’ projects or remembrance projects. In addition, the unit is in charge of the preparation and implementation of the European Year of Volunteering which will take place in 2011 in all Member States of the European Union. The team was given the task of giving a fresh coat of paint to EPEE, a children’s center in the Marolles.. After nearly six hours of cleaning and painting (with a short lunch break at Nativitas, a social restaurant serving the homeless and the elderly of the Marolles), the group could admire their day’s labour with the kitchen now a lovely lime, the hallway a sunshine yellow and the boys toilets a pretty pink! The director of EPEE, Alain Schittecatte, was delighted with the end result and told participants that they had created a beautiful and clean environment in which the children could learn and play. The STC motto “Many people doing small things together, make a big difference” certainly resonated with all the participants. For some it was their first volunteering experience and as one commented, she did not realize that volunteering could be so rewarding and easy. But the story does not end here… A few days after this event and after the positive feedback from the Citizen’s policy unit, STC was approached by the head of the Directorate C (DG Communication) to organize a team-building event this time for a group of 50 fonctionnaires. The second team-building event took place on 1 December and the group was requested to put up Christmas or St Nicholas decorations at seven different social restaurants (serving the homeless and elderly), as well as an elderly home. At certain social restaurants, they were also asked to help serve the regulars and clear tables. The general impression was that the day was well spent, but many in the group were also challenged by coming face-to-face with the stark realities of homeless. Given the European theme for 2011, STC foresees a very busy year in introducing members of the public and private sector to the world of volunteering and serving those in need.
