Kazan city volunteers: we are ready!
With 15 days to go to the FIFA World Cup Russia, the 1,000-strong team of City Volunteers has been formed and is ready to welcome visitors coming to the Tatarstan capital for this summer’s mega sporting event. How will you recognize these volunteers and what information they can provide to citizens and visitors of Kazan? The Directorate for Sports and Social Projects, which is responsible for implementation of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia City Volunteers programme, prepared a special presentation of its project.
A presentation of Kazan’s City Volunteers programme was held in the academic building of Volga Region State Academy of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism on 30 May 2018. Present at the event were Guzel Shakirova, Head of the Healthcare, Sports and Healthy Lifestyles Development Department of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Tatarstan, Damir Fattakhov, First Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustem Garifullin, Deputy Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Azat Kadyrov, Director General of the Directorate for Sports and Social Projects. The honorary guests congratulated the volunteer team on conclusion of the selection and training process and wished them success during their shifts at the World Cup. All of them mentioned the City Volunteers' importance for the event as this summer they will be the people who will create the general positive impression of the city and the republic.
The first part of the presentation featured a runway walk of volunteer models who demonstrated how official City Volunteers uniforms will look like. The uniform set includes a t-shirt featuring the official FIFA World Cup Russia pattern, polo with the Event logo and sign on the back, transformer pants, hooded windbreaker jacket, baseball cap, sneakers, backpack. Volunteers who had been selected for the team took part in the runway walk. Among the models also were silver-aged volunteers.
One of the key aspects of the volunteer programme is provision of hot meals. To ensure City Volunteers’ efficient work during their shifts at the World Cup, they need to be provided with healthy, nutritious and tasty meals. The first Tatar chain of halal food, Tyubetey, had been selected as the official caterer for Kazan’s City Volunteers programme. A menu featuring meals for five days of the week was showcased during the presentation. Each lunch features soup, salad, second course, pastry, fruit, drink; the meal set also includes salt, suger, napkins and tableware. The chain’s chief food technologist informed that volunteers’ meals will be nutritious and contain essential vitamins and minerals. Plus, it will be oriented to the national Tatar cuisine. After the presentation, the volunteers had the opportunity to taste first-hand and assess the meals from the City Volunteers menu.
As was reported earlier, City Volunteers will embark on their duties on June 11 and finish their work on July 15, 2018. They will provide services in the following functional areas: City Volunteers information booths, transport volunteers, Last Mile volunteers, medical volunteers, media volunteers, volunteer management, FIFA Fan Fest volunteers.
In addition to uniforms and meals, City Volunteers will also be provided with a Kazan transport card (2 daily rides per volunteer; the number of rides will depend on the number of shifts), life and health insurance, motivation programme (special events, FIFA World Cup licensed products).