Do you want to help Ukrainians?

Humanitarian crises touch people and many have a great desire to help. There are several organizations and associations in South Karelia that help people arriving in Finland in the middle of the crisis. Below are listed organizations that need new volunteer helpers.

Imatran Multicultural Society Kipinä ry

Contact person Rita Wallenius + 358 451 971 431, infoatimatrankipina.com (info[at]imatrankipina[dot]com) https://www.imatrankipina.fi/.

Volunteering in club activities. A volunteer can help guide clubs and teach visitors to speak Finnish:

  • Finnish language cafes twice a week, volunteers play an important role in guiding the groups.
  • A family club where volunteers can participate by meeting foreign parents.

Kipinä is often the only place where a foreigner can safely be met and speak Finnish. Participating in a family club is more like a friend activity.

Department of SPR Imatra

Contact person: Jouko Juvonen tel. 050 439 6006, Imatraatpinaineristi.fi (Imatra[at]punainenristi[dot]fi)

Voluntary activities in friendship activities, multicultural activities and recreational activities. A volunteer can work e.g. as a friend and in organizing an activity.

South Karelia Family Work Development Association

Contact person: Niina Kupiainen tel. 040 579 4632, so. cupatek-perhetyo.fi (niina[dot]kupiainen[at]ek-perhetyo[dot]fi)

Voluntary activities with support staff activities and recreational activities. A volunteer can work as a counselor, support person, chat operator and doula:

  • In our family clubs, you can work as a family club instructor, grandmother or guardian together with children and families. Family clubs are organized e.g. In Sammonlahti and reception centers.
  • If the volunteer is a parent who has gone through a divorce, he can offer peer support as a volunteer support person.
  • Or if the volunteer has experienced violence in a close relationship, he can train as a peer coach/support person.
  • As a doula, the volunteer supports the mother during the waiting period and, according to the family's wishes, during the birth.
  • In addition, in 2023 we will train voluntary chat operators for national services.

The best for children Lappeenranta association

Contact person: Anne Mäki p. 050 492 0198

Volunteering in recreational activities and a family club. For example, a volunteer can take part in events and organize different activities for children.

Southern Karelia Association

Southern Karelia Organizations and the province's Partnership Network project 1/2023

  • We organize outdoor sports events for the whole family in reception centers.
  • The Family Club operates once a month in Sammonlahti.
  • We participate in joint events of family organizations, such as Play Day, Baby's Day and Children's Rights Day celebration and, if possible, also in other events aimed at families.
  • Volunteers can also participate in craft evenings with their own skills. Twice a month, we make sales products for e.g. Christmas sales. the proceeds are donated to children's hobby activities for needy families in Lappeenranta.