Every year on December 5th, the world comes together to celebrate International Volunteer Day, a moment to recognize the power of collective action, empathy, and solidarity. In honor of Volunteer Day 2025, our association organized a Volunteer Challenge, inviting people to engage in meaningful actions through creativity, kindness, and commitment to their community.

This year’s Volunteer Challenge was built around the idea that volunteering is not always about grand gestures: sometimes, small actions can create the biggest smiles. Through a series of interactive challenges, outdoor activities, and community based events, participants were encouraged to experience volunteering in accessible and personal ways.

The Smile Challenge: Volunteering in everyday life

At the heart of the week was the Smile Challenge, designed to show that volunteering can happen anywhere, at any time:

• Volunteer for the Planet: participants recycled a waste item and gave it a second life.

• Volunteer for Animals: feeding a stray animal or supporting animal welfare in simple ways.

• Volunteer for Solidarity: donating clothes to people in need.

• Volunteer for Community: offering kind words to strangers in the street or people around them.

• Volunteer for Learning: reading one of our VOICES magazines in a public place and sharing the moment.

Alongside these challenges, we organized a city Treasure Hunt, where participants could complete Smile Challenges across different locations, as well as a community clean up, reinforcing the idea that caring for our environment is a form of volunteering too.

Throughout the week, participants shared photos, stories, and reflections, reminding us that volunteering is deeply human, emotional, social, and transformative.

At the end of the week, a few participants stood out for their engagement, creativity, and dedication. We had the chance to interview Eleonora, Mihajlo, and Lara, stars of this year’s Volunteer Challenge, to learn more about their volunteering journeys and what volunteering means to them.

Eleonora: Volunteering as empathy in action

Eleonora’s volunteering journey began early. At just 16 years old, while still in high school, she joined a non profit organization focused on improving youth mental health through workshops. That experience became the foundation of her long term commitment to volunteering.

For Eleonora, volunteering is deeply tied to values. She encourages people to find organizations that align with what they truly believe in, describing volunteering as “a very rewarding feeling.” Through her experiences, she has realized how many people value empathy and give their time selflessly, a realization that strengthened her hope in humanity.

Currently involved in a global humanitarian organization, Eleonora regularly helps distribute food to homeless people, animal shelters, and families in need. These moments have taught her gratitude and awareness, reminding her not to take everyday privileges for granted. Beyond the impact on others, volunteering has also shaped her social life, allowing her to meet inspiring people she deeply admires and shares meaningful experiences with.

To Eleonora, volunteering clearly has an impact on society: it brings people together, supports the youth and the elderly, protects the environment, helps animals, and does so without expecting anything in return.

Mihajlo: Community, balance, and hope

Mihajlo’s first volunteering experience was a cleanup action in Štip, near a church, on September 21st, 2025. He remembers clearly how bad the situation was at first and how rewarding it felt to see the area transformed after collective effort.

His advice for new volunteers is both practical and honest: follow organizations to find opportunities, but avoid over committing. While volunteering is important, taking care of one’s physical and mental health is essential too. As he says: “You cannot volunteer if you are exhausted.”

Mihajlo believes volunteering benefits not only those receiving help, but volunteers themselves. It improves mental and physical health, creates a sense of purpose, builds skills, and strengthens community bonds. One moment that deeply touched him was while volunteering at a marathon, when someone told him that volunteers give them hope for future generations, it’s a simple sentence that stayed with him.

For Mihajlo, volunteering naturally improves social life, as volunteers tend to form supportive communities. He strongly believes in volunteering’s societal impact, emphasizing that even small actions, like giving a compliment can change someone’s day.

Lara: Connection, growth, and being yourself

Lara’s first volunteering experience took place in the summer of 2023 at the Skopje Zoo. As an animal lover, she was excited not only to help but also to meet new people. During that experience, she met Dorotea, a VCS volunteer, who introduced her to VCS and VOICES Magazine. This encounter marked a turning point in her journey.

Inspired by the opportunities VCS provides, Lara began writing for VOICES and became increasingly active in volunteering. Her advice is to start as early as possible, get involved locally, stay curious, ask questions, and actively participate in events.

Volunteering helped Lara realize the importance of being herself: acting kindly, sincerely, and authentically. One of her most touching experiences was her first youth exchange in Germany, where she connected deeply with young people from different countries. Living and working together created lasting bonds that still exist today.

Socially, volunteering helped her gain confidence, improve communication skills, think critically, and feel accepted without judgment. For Lara, volunteering empowers people to recognize their role in creating positive change, strengthening responsibility, cooperation, and understanding within communities.

Lessons from Volunteer Challenge

Through challenges, cleanups, treasure hunts, and personal stories, Volunteer Challenge 2025 showed us that volunteering is not just an action but a mindset. Whether through feeding an animal, recycling waste, offering kind words, or building long term projects, every act matters.

Eleonora, Mihajlo, and Lara remind us that volunteering shapes not only society, but also who we become. It teaches empathy, connection, responsibility, and hope and values that the world needs now more than ever.

Even if the Volunteer Challenge is finished, the message remains clear: anyone can volunteer, anywhere, in their own way and together, those small actions can truly change the world.

Cassandre Journoud