Volunteer
The importance of volunteer work can be quickly seen if you imagine what our society would look like without volunteers in the social and political spheres as well as in associations. Without these volunteers, our society would not only be poorer, it would simply not function. The importance of volunteer work is increasing as the state reduces or simply can no longer perform public tasks for financial reasons. At the same time, the popularity of volunteer work among company owners is declining as industry and commercial enterprises are increasingly forced to act more economically. Volunteers regularly produce services to society instead of revenue for the company (example: volunteer firefighters).
Changes to the 2024 volunteer card
We would like to take this opportunity to inform you about the changes when switching from the Hilden volunteer pass to the NRW volunteer card.
As of January 18, 2024, the city of Hilden will also be participating in the state-wide NRW Volunteer Card program.
Current details on the application, issue and benefits program can be found on our page on the introduction of the NRW volunteer card in Hilden.
History
In order to put the valuable work of volunteers in the right light and also to highlight their importance for the public and thus to counteract this development, a Volunteer Day was introduced in the city of Hilden as early as 1996, during which volunteers were thanked for their commitment and their work was put in the spotlight and publicly honored. Experience has shown that the event is very well suited to support voluntary commitment. Nevertheless, it is not the only way. Knowing the increasingly important role of volunteerism for our community, the goal must be to continue to highlight this commitment more effectively and with greater public impact. Public action is needed to strengthen the motivation of voluntary action - where the administration cannot act due to a lack of financial or human resources, efforts are needed to win over other participants in public life to participate.
The demographic development in Hilden
Another factor that should not be underestimated is demographic development. While the proportion of people aged 65 and over was still 12.4% of Hilden's population in 1975, this group had risen to 23.9% by the reporting date of December 31, 2014. According to forecasts, this proportion will increase by a further 6.7 percentage points by 2030. There is enormous potential here in terms of knowledge, experience and time that needs to be put to good use for the general public.