We sat down for a coffee with Rabea, Mathilda and Teresa, volunteers with the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), to hear how their volunteering project at Casa Vera Cruz, in Aveiro, is going. On their journey to becoming "community superheroes", they’ve been working with children, families and immigrants, supporting their integration into the local community.

Teresa Pons, from Mallorca, Spain, is a trained nurse who wanted to experience life abroad and help people in a different way. Through a friend, she found out about the ESC platform, applied for our project and was selected. Mathilda Witt, from Austria, has a different story: she finished secondary school last year and decided to take a gap year before continuing her studies - to travel, work and volunteer. While still at school, she met former ESC participants who told her about the programme and that’s how she found her way to our project. Rabea Kirsch, from Germany, had a similar path: she also wanted to take a gap year, and that’s how she came across our "Solidarity Superheroes" project.

“Solidarity Superheroes” is developed under the umbrella of the European Solidarity Corps’ Volunteering Projects, a European Commission initiative that offers young people aged 18 to 30 the chance to participate in social impact projects abroad. For volunteers, it’s an opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute. For the communities that host them, it’s a chance to connect, share, and build something meaningful together.

The volunteers carry out most of their work at CLAIM, Aveiro’s Local Support Centre for the Integration of Migrants, managed by Casa Vera Cruz. These centres offer guidance, support and information to migrants across areas like housing, employment, healthcare, and education. Teresa, Mathilda and Rabea have been supporting the implementation of several migrant integration initiatives. On 15 March, the volunteers helped organise a Flash Mob at the Train Station and the Manuel Firmino Market. It brought together people from different countries in a moment of music and dance, with a powerful and simple message: “we are all migrants of the world”.

Together, through the “Operação Papa-Léguas” (“Roadrunner Operation”), they’ve also visited schools to support the local education community in developing intercultural education projects, promoting the full and effective integration of children from third countries and their families. This project also offers volunteers the opportunity to propose their own initiatives. Given her background in healthcare, Teresa has proposed to organise a roundtable discussion on health with the migrant community.

As the coordinating organisation, Agora Aveiro ensures the volunteers' well-being, learning journey and integration through regular meetings, mentoring sessions and Youthpass-based reflection moments. Casa Vera Cruz, as the host organisation, welcomed them with open arms and has benefited not only from their time and dedication, but also from their ideas, the cultural diversity they bring and the positive energy they share with the entire team.

We believe volunteering has this unique power: to build bridges between people, cultures and realities. To help us grow, not only as individuals, but as a community. To remind us that solidarity is not just a word, it’s a choice we make, every day, together.

The “Solidarity Superheroes” project is organised by Agora Aveiro as part of the “Volunteering Projects” from the European Solidarity Corps Programme, supported by the European Commission. It is carried out in partnership with Casa Vera Cruz and with the support of the Municipality of Aveiro.