The third volunteer action within the project “VOLUNTEER FOR NATURE, VOLUNTEER FOR YOURSELF!”, which promotes and encourages the implementation of school volunteering programs in protected areas, was successfully held on April 29th in the Vrana Lake Nature Park.
The action started around 11.30 am and lasted for a little over two hours. It was attended by 21 students, along with mentors from Association Sunce, the League for Addiction Prevention and teachers.
Part of the students were in charge of cleaning the area along the lake and the trail. Another group, with the help of their teachers and mentors, successfully sanded and then painted the bridge over the canal.
Not far from them, a third group of students was given the task of sanding and painting the observatory. The timbering was successfully restored and refreshed with paint, and invasive plant species were removed. Early in the afternoon, after the work was done, refreshments followed. After lunch, the volunteers went on a short tour of the highest peak of the Vrana Lake Nature Park, the attractive Kamenjak lookout point from which the entire lake can be seen. There, volunteers, mentors and teachers were awarded letters of thanks for participating in the student volunteer program Young Keepers of Plant Balance and Young Editors of Visitor Equipment in the Vrana Lake Nature Park.
Last year, high school students revived part of the botanical garden in the Biokovo Nature Park – a total of 126 volunteer hours were done, and 15 meters of dry-stone walls, two paths, an educational board and a sub-wall with a bench that serves as a rest area were renovated. In the volunteer action in the Krka National Park, 27 volunteers – students aged 15 to 25, under the mentorship and guidance of 15 coordinators, worked a total of 324 volunteer hours and in less than two days renovated about 100 m of dry-stone walls.
Association Sunce is the holder of the project funded under the Operational Program “Effective Human Resources” 2014-2020. European Social Fund, and from the Office for Cooperation with NGO’s of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
Through the project, Association Sunce cooperates with partners: League for Addiction Prevention, Craft Technical School Split, Ivan Lucić High School – Trogir, Center for Community Services Split, Public Institution “Biokovo Nature Park” , Public Institution “Krka National Park”, Public Institution “Vrana Lake Nature Park” and Public Institution “Telašćica Nature Park”.
The goals of the project are to develop new skills of young people, educate them and inform them about volunteering in the context of nature and environmental protection. Also, the implementation of activities within the project aims to improve capacities in educational and public institutions for nature protection and youth volunteering.
We are already looking forward to the next two-day volunteer action in the Telašćica Nature Park, which we will start on May 17.
