ASF-Dansk Folkehjaelp, Denmark

The Danish Volkshilfe (people’s social service) was founded on 31 July 1907 under the name “Arbejdernes Samariter Forening” (Samaritan organisation of workers).

Since it was founded care and First Aid form the core piece of the national programme of the Danish Volkshilfe. The First Aid service of the volunteers is one of the main areas of responsibility of the organisation. The standby emergency service of the organisation is responsible for the Samaritan events, this means for sport and cultural events such as town trade fairs, concerts, motor races, football games and gymnastics festivals. A number of federations of the organisation developed a new line of action at the end of the 1930s: the voluntary social work. The social work of the organisation comprises activities such as voluntary services for the socially weak, people with disabilities and older people, holidays for physically and mentally disabled persons, single parents, needy people, children of parents who are drug addicts, pensioners, asylum seekers or immigrant families, etc. On an international level the Danish Volkshilfe is active in two essential sectors worldwide, in disaster and emergency relief as well as humanitarian aid.

Today, the Danish Volkshilfe is represented in five regions and by 50 local federations in the territory of Denmark and Greenland. The activities of the organisation are primarily supported on the voluntary work of the more than 3,000 individual members and a large number of unions, which together represent 1.5 million members.