Volunteering as a mechanism of social solidarity of society

Abstract

The current socio-demographic situation in Russia is characterized by an increase in the proportion of people who need social services, namely, older people and people with disabilities. As a rule, these groups of people are not only limited in material resources, but also often deprived of the possibility of implementing minimal social ties, communication, and cultural entertainment. The provision of social services is implemented at the local level, but the limited municipal budgets do not fully satisfy the needs of citizens, and payment for services for this category of needy is inaccessible. Social protection services within the framework of state policy provide various types of material services to low-income citizens, but they do not have such a socio-economic effect that would be fully able to solve the problems of this category of people, therefore the quality of life of the vulnerable groups of the population is characterized by extremely limited opportunities and a wide range of practically unsolvable needs. The purpose of the scientific article is to determine the urgent needs of those in need and identify the reserves of additional assistance for citizens in difficult life situations based on data from in-depth interviews. The questions of the insufficiency of the use of the state’s most powerful resource of volunteering when popularizing the activities of volunteers and creating appropriate conditions for it are raised. Discusses on the legitimacy of the identification of the concepts of “volunteering” and “volunteering”, which are traditionally considered identical in the works of domestic researchers, legal acts. It has been established that people with disabilities need communication, joint leisure activities, assistance in attending events and just mobility, computer literacy training. It is emphasized that the word “volunteer” is perceived by our compatriots as borrowed, not evoking emotionally colored associations, contrary to its national character, the word “volunteer”, on the contrary, is noted as one’s, native – a person of good will, kind, merciful. Summarized, the experience of the territories in which volunteering is developed shows that volunteers are united not only by the focus and nature of the activity, but also by the territory in which they interact, and this fact is a powerful factor in securing a person in the region, which is especially important for the regions of the Far East and especially the Jewish Autonomous Region.