FLAGSHIP PROGRAMMES
Christmas time is a truly magical period at Villa Elba because they get to host amazing and enthusiastic youngsters from all over Europe who bring their positive attitude and joy. This year the 15 volunteers from 8 countries did a fantastic job from planning activities to turning into actual elves and doing activities with kids and families at Villa Elba's Elf Path. Totally, the elves got to share Christmas spirit with about 1941 visitors!
Youth Centre Villa Elba in Kokkola Finland hosted an European Solidarity Corps volunteering team project called "Elf Around" during the time 4.11.-17.12.2024. During the project volunteers got to experience Christmas from preparations by coming up with games and other materials, planning activities for the Elf Path to the actual acting as elves for 934 kindergarten kids and 1007 visitors during the Elf Path public event. Besides that, the youngsters contributed to keeping traditions alive by planning and hosting Saint Lucy's Day.
Here are some of the volunteers learning outcomes: "I learned how to work with children, improved my creativity and organizationalskills while creating the activities and games for children and improved my teamwork abilities" "I learned to improve creative thinking skills, to improve time managment skills, to work and get along with kids that don’t speak the same language, to show empathy and supporting others and to plan the events with others"
The project is Co-funded by European Union. Villa Elba is doing their best to provide high quality youth work for all young people. We have several ESC team projects on different topics each year. They can be found on their website: https://www.villaelba.fi/en/short-term-volunteering/, as well as long-term individual ESC projects: https://www.villaelba.fi/en/volunteering/