Kia ora, welcome to Volunteering Northland
3 August 2026
Europe is experiencing one of their hottest summers, while we get rains and cold spells. Our partner organisation MEM in Mainz, Germany, is busy as ev...
What does volunteering ('Ehrenamt') in Mainz, Germany, look like? Read our partner organisation's newest update on their work!
Europe is experiencing one of their hottest summers, while we get rains and cold spells. Our partner organisation MEM in Mainz, Germany, has had a really busy spring and summer season so far, with loads of wonderful, inspiring activities for volunteers!
May ended with celebrating the ‘Ehrentag’, Germany’s National Volunteer Day. Volunteer centres all around the country commended their volunteers for giving their time, lending their ear and caring for others. About 37% of all Germans are engaged in volunteering – some volunteer every week, others project-focused. Germans know that volunteering strengthens democracy, community and social cohesion. Every hour of volunteering counts and makes a difference!
Similar to our work at Volunteering Northland, Katharina and Marie from MEM run regular stalls at expos and speak at events, to promote volunteering and connect potential volunteers with organisations. In June, Katharina was part of a panel on ‘Loneliness - Made in Germany’, and spoke about the importance of volunteering, neighbourhood connections and social community hubs for combating loneliness. She stressed how vital volunteering is: when you participate in your community, you are working with others towards a communal goal.
‘Loneliness is in its core the lack of social infrastructure. Volunteering is building that social infrastructure, it’s creating meeting spaces for people, places of belonging. It heightens trust in others and in our democracy; because it shows us the power of creating something together!’
MEM also organised their first ever Volunteer City Walk, and it was a huge success! With a group of roughly 30 interested volunteers, they visited community organisations in the Mainzer CBD to find out more about volunteering. The group helped at one of the local op shops, learned what being part of the mobile library service looks like, and got stuck into urban planting with a local environmental organisation. MEM was able to offer the walk in plain language, which made it accessible for people with basic German language skills.
Popular volunteer roles in the last few months:
Volunteering at the ‘Meenzer Sommerstraße’ (Mainzer Summerstreet) got people out of the house. Once a year, Mainz creates a car-free zone in the center of town. For one week, one of the main streets turns into a hub of community activities, where everyone can enjoy music, markets, games, dance and sports.
For the ‘Woche der Biologischen Vielfalt’ (Week of Ecological Diversity), the focus was on volunteer actions to protect bees. Volunteers raised awareness on how vital bees are for a functioning ecosystem by building insect hotels, advocating for environmentally friendly pesticides and planting bee-friendly plants in your gardens.
Because of the high temperatures, volunteers were asked to attend a supply tour for homeless people by one of the local charities. Every few weeks during the hottest summer months, German mutual aid organisation Caritas tours the town to make sure that homeless people in Mainz have enough water and hygiene supplies.
Currently, the volunteer centre helps identify youth volunteer entries for ‘Junge Ideen. Gemeinsame Wirkung.’ (Young ideas. Shared impact.) - the region’s largest competition for young changemakers and volunteers. We are really excited to see what Germany's youth comes up with!
If you want to learn more about Mainz, check out the video below to find out more about one of the most beautiful cities in Germany.
Volunteering Connects People – Worldwide! For International Volunteer Year 2026 (IVY), we are partnering with our German sister organisations ‘Wir tun 'was. RLP’ and ‘MEM, Mainzer Ehrenamtsbuero’! This partnership presents a fantastic opportunity to exchange knowledge, learn about each other’s cultures and forge cross-country friendships with some amazing German volunteers – broadening our perspective on volunteering around the world.
