TEHRAN – The volunteers affiliated with the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) have provided a wide range of services, from dispatching medical teams and donating blood to conducting projects in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21.

During the same time, 275,381 more volunteers joined the IRCS, bringing the whole number of volunteers to more than 1.8 million individuals. Over 152,400 participated in different programs of the IRCS, providing services to more than 1.65 million people, Mohammad-Javad Ezzati, an official with the IRCS, has said.

A total of 481 volunteer medical teams spent over 75,000 voluntary hours, providing health services to 94,358 individuals in deprived areas. The volunteers also distributed 9,876 food packages among them, he added.

Moreover, 4,544 volunteers collaborated and conducted 1,098 projects. Benefactors donated 514 billion rials (about 268,000 dollars). Some 90,000 people benefited from these services.

Some 3, 348 volunteers in collaboration with 218 nongovernmental organizations conducted 369 joint projects. They provided different services to 94.471 people. Public contributions exceeded 586 billion rials (around 300,000 dollars), Ezzati noted.

Within the first three months, 13,103 volunteer activities were carried out with the participation of 90,493 volunteers, totaling over 1.233 million hours of service that benefited nearly one million people. Additionally, more than 11,206 tents and health stations were set up, and allocated public contributions reached over 3,329 billion Rials (almost 170,000 dollars), the official said.

Some 9,504 volunteers, recording over 30,000 hours of service per volunteer, visited 704 centers and homes of 5,603 elderly and needy individuals, providing support to 20, 583 people. They contributed over 128 billion rials (around 65,000 dollars).

During the same period, 28.712 volunteers also donated 31,642 units of blood, playing a significant role in supplying blood reserves.

With the help of 593 volunteers, 6,179 medical items were lent to patients; some 3.047 individuals received these services.  

Furthermore, 3,744 beneficiaries received financial support from the organization; the total aid amounted to more than 273.778 billion rials (about 140,000 dollars), Ezzati further noted.

Hundreds of thousands of youth volunteers join IRCS projects

The Iranian Red Crescent Society has engaged hundreds of thousands of teenagers and young adults in education, relief, and volunteer activities through a series of educational and social projects over the past year.

In recent years, the IRCS has sought not to limit its vision of the future to relief operations alone, so that an important part of this vision focuses on building a generation trained and prepared to play an effective role in difficult situations and moments of crisis.

This path begins in school, where teenagers are first introduced to the basic concepts of relief, first aid, and social responsibility.

This training then goes beyond the initial level of familiarity and leads to the formation of student and youth volunteer teams in the form of various projects.

Ultimately, these programs strive to create a network of prepared and informed forces who, in addition to the Red Crescent’s main missions, also play an active role in society.

According to the latest statistics, there are currently 4,974,111 volunteers in the IRCS, of whom 3,257,455 are young people under the age of 35.

Providing first aid training in schools in the form of the “Skilled Trainer” plan was one of the most extensive areas of the Red Crescent’s activity last year. The plan has been implemented in 9,000 schools and about 350,000 students have been trained in these programs.

Rather than being purely technical, these trainings focus on recognizing dangerous situations, correct behavior in the event of an accident, and learning simple but vital skills.

The goal is to ensure that students are not tied down when faced with unexpected situations and are able to make the right initial decisions.

Another part of these activities is related to attracting young people under the age of 35 to attend relief bases. These forces help provide services as active volunteers alongside relief and rescue teams in various situations.

In addition, various social and cultural projects have also been implemented for young people. These activities are not only educational in nature, but also try to strengthen the sense of social responsibility among the younger generation and involve them in collective and voluntary work.

In addition to relief training, the Red Crescent Society has also paid attention to the field of psychological support.

Projects in this section focus on times of crisis and various incidents and try to help the affected people spiritually and socially.

In the field of cultural activities, events combine ritual and religious activities in the form of collective programs. In addition, participation in blood donation continues to be an important part of voluntary activities, so that last year, more than 8,000 people participated in this humanitarian action.

These activities show that the Red Crescent is not only active in times of crisis, but also focuses on building the next generation that is introduced to the concepts of relief from primary schools, will gain experience in volunteer projects, and will ultimately be able to play an effective role in real situations.

MT/MG