The business world matches the social economy and brings new colours to the study rainbow

Ajudaris is about to get a renovated study room for the children and young people attending the Rainbow Club, and it's thanks to the Volunteer Week fostered by the computer consultancy company Near Sea Technologies, which got its employees painting walls, putting up baseboards, and taking care of other details that will make the space of that Private Institution of Social Solidarity (IPSS) more welcoming and stimulating.

The meeting between the technological company and the social and human association was provided by the Porto Municipality Local Volunteer Network and is seen as an opportunity for Near Sea Technologies employees to gain greater civic participation in the community.

At the same time, this initiative “aims to promote a greater interpersonal relationship within the company, demonstrating not only its concern in the area of social responsibility, but also believing that volunteering will bring more happiness and personal and social enrichment to employees and the people/organisations they aim to support”.

The Councilor for Social Cohesion, Fernando Paulo, was present at the start of the work and thanked the company for the “solidarity and humanistic spirit with which they embraced the initiative” and Ajudaris for the “receptivity and acceptance of this corporate volunteering initiative, allowing the company and its employees to be aware of the reality of the daily social work that the IPSS foster with the community”.

The work of Near Sea Technologies aims to help the 22 children and young people who receive daily study support at Ajudaris so as to “develop their skills, freely and spontaneously”.

In addition to “getting their hands dirty” at the Rainbow Club, the volunteer workers of the technology company will also plant two cherry trees in the institution's garden together with the group of children and young people to “sow not only fruits but also future synergies and incentive for more citizenship actions”.

This concerted action was possible through the mediation carried out by the Local Volunteer Network, a point of contact between people interested in being volunteers, who offer their availability to provide a set of actions inherent to the condition of active and solidary citizenship, and the organisations that welcome and promote volunteering.