Voluntary activities of the Diocese Charity in České Budějovice seen from the clients´ point of view

The topic of my thesis are voluntary activities of the Diocese Charity in České Budějovice seen from the clients´point of view. Voluntary work is not a new phenomenon in a human society. In each culture and society those, who were better off, helped to the less happy, who, due to an illness, poverty or a natural disater, needed help. The objective of the thesis was to find out, what are the demands of clients of the Diocese Charity on volunteers and how these clients evaluate the volunteers´ work. The theoretic part of the thesis deals with the explanation of the terms such as a volunteer, volunteer activities, volunteer service, charity. Furter on, the activities of the Diocese Charity of České Budějovice and of its Volunteer Centre are described, together with its development and programmes. To carry out the practical part, a qualitative research, the polling method, the technique of a half - standardized interview have been applied. The first group of the polled were the coordinators of the volunteers in the institutions using higher number of volunteers for the clients´ services. The other group involved people, who regularly meet a volunteer. These are people suffering from psychic disorders or mentally handicapped people, and the elderly. As a whole, 4 coordinators and 13 clients in four institutions were polled. Even though the volunteers visit other clients as well, not all, considering their state of health or the stage of disability, were able to answer the questions independently, or they declined to take part in the research at all. The results of the research showed that the work of a volunteer is evaluated positively by all the respondents. They value mainly the fact, that there is a person coming to see them, somebody, they can talk to, go for a walk with, go to the theatre or to the cinema with, go shopping. Simply, they can go with a volunteer there, where they cannot go without his attendance. They also appreciate, that the volunteer comes to them, teach them something or helps. From their point of view, a volunteer should be nice and kind, friendly, honest, talkative and should be able and willing to help and try hard to meet the wishes of the client. The coordinators of the volunteers also see the importance of the volunteer work not only for their clients but also for the institutions themselves, since the volunteers´ work helps to improve the level of the social care, to fulfil the leisure time of the clients and to establish new friendly relationships. The results of my thesis will be used by the Volunteer Centre of the Diocese Charity in České Budějovice, where it could help to choose the right volunteers on the basis of the most frequent demands of clients, as it was found out during the research. At the same time the thesis might be seen as an appraisal and acknowledgment of present volunteers expressed by the clients, and also as an inspiration for volunteers to be