1. ANTEAS Ferrara (Italy)
National Association of the
Third Age Active for Solidarity
Associated partner of Eur.adi.po.net

2. Main Activities
• Health Care
• Transport sick
• Assistance to the elderly
• Socio-cultural animation
Target
• Elderly in general
• People who are socially excluded

3. An informal interview about
the 3R’s
with the ANTEAS volunteers

4. Last month ANTEAS headquarter was
transferred to a new building. I helped them
out to move in. On that occasion, I had the
opportunity to interview a lot of volunteers
and talk to them about the 3 R’s.
The volunteers I talked to came from middle
social class and they were qualified
workers, office workers, nurses.
They were retired or close to retire.

5. They wanted to give meaning to their lives
working as volunteers in the field of
health and social care to
• help old and sick people
• learn new skills
• use the skills they already have

6. The interviewed volunteers
gave weighted answers. Their
opinions about the 3R’s will
continue on the next slides.

7. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
Volunteer associations must try their
best to retain the volunteers
recognizing constantly their
engagement, as most people need
recognitions.
If a volunteer doesn’t feel valued he
can think his activities are
unappreciated and, as a result, he
could abandon the association.

8. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
The recruitment, the recognition and
the retention are activities strongly
related and above all good practices of
recruitment and recognition are useful
for the retention.

9. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
First kind of recognition: the recruitment.
If the association management recruit the
volunteer giving him the right information
and giving him a right role, he will carry
out happily his duties, increasing the
possibility of a long retention inside the
association.

10. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
A good recruitment and an honest and
continuous recognition will
• develop and keep alive in the volunteers
the sense of belonging to the
association and
• increase the chance of retaining volunteers
for a long time.

11. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
The association need a variety of
methods for showing appreciation to
volunteers.
Saying thank you because at the end of
the day, most volunteers want to know
if they have carried out their work
properly and their activities have been
done well.
Besides the recognition should be
done as soon as possible.

12. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
The association should not say thank you for
a very common performance, because there
is the risk of overdoing and thanksgiving
could lose meaning. Indeed if we say thanks
a lot for poor performances we make
something appear to be more important or
impressive than it is really.
So we must give honest and balanced
recognition (thanks) for volunteer efforts.

13. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
The association should recognize the
volunteer more than his activity.
For example, if a volunteer organizes an
important event the manager should
always mention the event and emphasize
the work of the volunteer.

14. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
The association need a variety of methods
to show appreciation for volunteers.
Some people can feel well valued their
commitment by public thanks and some
others prefer a recognition by concrete
facts.

15. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
As different people appreciate different
things, associations should take into
consideration different ways for
recognizing volunteers.
Holding this in due consideration,
ANTEAS has made some agreements
with factories, craftsmen and service
centres in order to offer some goods or
services at low cost to volunteers.

16. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
Some goods and services at low cost for
volunteers:
• social trips
• social holidays at the seaside and to the
mountains
• thermal treatments
• medical specialist services (therapies
and visits,
• ophthalmology examinations)

17. • barber, hairdresser, manicure and
pedicure service
• insurance (car, home, person, family)
• season opera and theater
• subscription magazines
• annual maintenance of home heating
device (mandatory by law)

18. Management.- The volunteers think that all the
managers have to participate in meeting with
other associations to share skills, knowledge,
experiences and information.
This is a good way to improve the organisation
and the activities of the associations.
Besides, whenever it is necessary to take some
important decisions, the people managing
volunteers have to involve the volunteers to share
the decisions.

19. ANTEAS volunteers opinions about the 3R’s
According to an old Italian saying “one
hand receives the other gives”.