This year, the CROMA volunteer programme has continued to grow

“During my collaboration with the CROMA volunteer programme I’ve had the chance to deal with kids from very different backgrounds and, actually, I think I have been learning more from them than they have from me”. These are the words of the UAB sociology student, Quim Escura, describing his experience in the CROMA volunteer programme. Escura appears in the videoclip "Keep Calm and Volunteer a la UAB". Similarly, in the documentary "Voluntaris combaten el fracàs escolar" by the Catalan TV channel TV3, Marina Abel claims that volunteers are not parents or teachers but they lie somewhere in between in the eyes of the kids they help. According to Abel, this is what makes it possible for volunteers to approach the kids as friends and then help them.”

These are the opinions of two of the students who collaborated last year with the socioeducational programme CROMA of the Autonomous Solidarity Foundation (FAS) for children aged between 8 and 12. The project aims to support children whose social, emotional and educational development has been affected by their family’s economic situation.

Last year, more than 90 students helped numerous kids improve their learning skills, self-esteem and motivation spirit.

This year the CROMA programme has continued to grow: 1 city – Sant Cugat del Vallès – and 7 schools will join the programme, making a total of 26 schools participating in the project. This expansion will provide help to over 450 kids – that is 120 more than last year. To handle all this work, we need 120 volunteer students to collaborate with us once a week in the afternoon.

According to education student and former member of the FAS Lara Garcia, volunteering is a great chance to “to put into practice everything we learn in class”. For instance, being an education student and volunteering in the CROMA programme “not only you can put into practice all your knowledge but also you contribute to society and enrich your life.”

If you would like to collaborate with the socioeducational programme for children aged between 8 and 12, please fill and submit this form, or email us at fas.croma@uab.cat, so you can stay informed about the training sessions and how to join the CROMA team.