Evanjelicka diakonia ECAV na Slovensku

Evanjelická diakonia ECAV in Slovakia is a Christian non-profit organization which has a wide spectrum of activities among the people who are the most vulnerable and need a certain kind of social assistance, help and social services. We are not just an isolated church organization for a selected group of people, but exactly the opposite. We would like to help people in need within our competences, skills and capacities. We deal with socio-diaconal work and care, humanitarian aid, we offer preventive activities for various social groups, develop and encourage in volunteering activities and we provide education in all these areas. Our organization works and provides social services to almost every age group from early childhood to elderly people. We work with people with various kinds of disabilities. The Head Office is in Bratislava. There are 5 employees on full time and 4 employees part time. We have network of 22 diaconal centers thoughout the Slovakia, for various kinds of social services for various age groups. For example we work with elderly people, abused women with their children, mental handicapped people, we build also network of professional parents who take care about children from foster homes, we provide house on the halfway in which we take care about mostly Roma young men from foster homes to help them to reintegrate to the society, etc. With our work we want to spread a need in helping those who are in bad life situations regardelss of race, religion, gender or age and to encourage young people to take attention to various kinds of needs. We have totally approx. 300 employees full time/part time and around 850 clients per year. Target group we would like to reach are young people who like to work with people, who have social feeling and like to be in a company with people who are in need, who are vulnerable, who are in worse or bad health or mental condition, young people who are creative, are tolerant to any religious belief. In our diaconal center which we would like to accredite as the affiliated entity, are elderly people as our clients - they are disoriented people of high age. So also activities we can right know offer for the volunteers are or will be oriented mostly to the voluntary work with elderly people. Such as: be a company to the elder people that means to speak with them, to read them, to play various games with them, to go with them for a walk, to help them with eating, to make for them any culture program, to assist employees in easier hygienic or therapeutical activities. We would like to encourage young people to create their own or innovative volunteer activity with our clients. If it will be possible we would like to add in the future other affilitated entities - as our diaconal centers where we work also with other age groups of people. Of course if it will be interest from Slovak young people and/or possibilities for Slovak potential volunteers, we would like to be also a sending organization with cooperation of our foreign partners and offer also our Slovak young people a possibility for voluntary experience also in foreign countries to resposnsible and trustworthy organizations.