The importance of volunteerism work was highlighted recently at the Saudi Aramco festival in Jeddah, which concluded with the celebration of International Volunteers Day.

The two-day program was attended by more than 1,500 visitors and witnessed the participation of 60 volunteer groups, including the Social Affairs Group, Majed Development Society for Social Services, Dalaha Volunteers Academy and other organizations. The participants shared their stories of success with the participants, while encouraging the youth to volunteer their time and services for the welfare of the community.

The importance of volunteerism came to the forefront around two years ago when floods hit Jeddah and people rushed to assist one another. Since then, many companies, such as Dalaha, began introducing volunteerism courses for the youth, to raise awareness on how to provide help to others especially during times of crisis.

International Volunteers Day was observed at Aramco compound in the presence of Samir Nasrudeen, Saudi Aramco’s director in the western region, Abdullah Al-Tawai, general manager of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Makkah and a number of members from volunteer groups.

Commenting on the occasion, Nasrudeen said that the involvement of volunteers and their contribution is one of the key factors that impacts the progress and prosperity of nations. He also emphasized the need to create greater awareness in the Kingdom about the importance of volunteerism and sustainable development. “At the core of volunteerism are the notions of citizenship, community work and social responsibility,” he added. The director further explained that Saudi Aramco organized the volunteer forum under the slogan “We are together” to combine the efforts of public and private institutions in a common platform to serve the public and contribute in disseminating the culture of volunteerism.

“Experience has shown that governmental organizations alone cannot achieve the nation’s developmental goals without the active participation of volunteers,” he added.

Al-Tawai said God endowed human beings with compassion and love toward one another so that they can work together and support each other.

During the event, various volunteer groups presented their stories to the attendees, discussing their beginnings, the obstacles they faced and how they managed to overcome the problems.

Al-Sayed Mohammed Al-Sagaf was the main speaker at the event, while some of the other presenters included Ali Abu Hassan, professor of Intellectual Development, who discussed the ethics of volunteerism; and Prof. Tamim Al-Maatuq, director of social responsibility at Saudi Aramco, who delivered a lecture on Saudi Aramco’s social responsibility.