Description of organisation

SOS Malnate is a non-profit association, founded in 1982 and active in the territory of Malnate, in the province of Varese and in the neighboring municipalities. SOS Malnate offers socio-health services, first aid services, ambulance transport services, cars or special vehicles for elderly, sick and disabled patients. In addition, the association periodically offers first aid courses or free training for young people. Our mission is to transport the sick and injured with ambulances and special vehicles, combining high professionalism with a strong attention to the human person, providing health care for the safety of public events, helping populations affected by disasters, spreading the culture of first aid by carrying out training courses, offering collaboration to public bodies for the management of blood sampling centers and, more generally, of social assistance services in the area and promoting the dissemination of volunteering, especially youth and in Europe, and civil service . Through these activities, the association aspires to contribute to the affirmation of the principles of solidarity, equality and promote social cohesion.
The SOS Malnate staff is made up of 254 volunteers, 14 employees, 20 volunteers from the Junior group and 5 collaborators (doctors and nurses). Moreover every year our association welcomes on average 10 boys in civil service involved in the main SOS activities of ambulance services and special vehicles. SOS Malnate has been very attentive to young people for years and carries out various projects with the aim of stimulating their curiosity and offering them concrete experiences to be able to train and improve.
From 2005 to 2009, our association activated a hospitality project for young European volunteers with the aim of supporting them in our most typical transport activities for the sick, disabled and injured. Unfortunately, we observed that these types of services were not in line with the project, since it was necessary to have knowledge of the Italian language since arrival and it was necessary to arrive in Italy in the exact period in which the specific training course was active (we would not have resources to be able to make one ad hoc only for European volunteers at other times of the year). This made us decide to suspend the direct hospitality project in our Association, but we continued to work on the set-up, growth and care of the home, Casa Grizzetti, used by the partner associations of CSV Insubria who need accommodation for young Europeans. In these last years we have improved the equipment and the quality of life of the house and we invest economically more than 100.000,00 € in the house with a new open space, a new kitchen, new bolier and fornitures, new domestic appliances, a new class-room for meeting, new bedroom with the possibility to guest one more volunteer, a new fast internet connection, a new garden with the possibility to spend free time outside or to work outside, new murales of famous italian artist to improve the sense of beauty, more isolation from cold of the house and a photovoltaic plant to produce the electricity. We have also worked on the recognition on the territory and on the potential for young volunteers (Italian and European).
This home is becoming a real headquarters for volunteering under 30 and for the european volunteers , not only a reference point for young people already active in the area thanks to the SOS Malnate Junior group and the civil service, but also for those who want to leave from Italy to go to volunteering in another country and for those who want to arrive from Europe to Italy. Understanding the importance of this place and its potential, we are working with the employees, volunteers and the youth group to improve it and make it more alive. For this reason we have decided to make a new hospitality project for a young European volunteer, with the intention of integrating it into the context already started at Casa Grizzetti and, over time, can help us generate connections both in the virtual and in the real world on the territory. This house was born from the idea of enhancing the experiences of youth volunteering with the aim of bringing together Italian and European young people, helping them develop relationships and skills that can also help them get in touch with the world of work. Welcoming European volunteers will certainly be an enrichment for SOS Malnate: it will allow an exchange of experiences and will help to give a European and intercultural approach to our activities, strengthening the European citizenship of the volunteers of our association, especially the younger ones, expanding the European sentiment of solidarity. To this end, we are looking for volunteers interested in social commitment and solidarity, with a positive, communicative and proactive approach.

Inclusion topics

This organisation is willing to involve volunteers who face situations which make their participation in activities more difficult, from the following categories for different types of project:

• Cultural differences
• Economic obstacles
• Educational difficulties