Vaaka in English

Vaaka, founded in 2000, is a charitable organization that primarily works with increasing the wellbeing of children and families in Finland and across borders whenever possible. In addition to the wellbeing of families, sustainable development is also important to us.  All our members volunteer – there are no paid members or e.g. rented warehouses. We all want to do our part in changing the world, one small deed at a time.

Vaaka runs agile, easily accessible campaigns to address needs in the grassroots. The campaigns usually gather aid packages for a specific purpose: Baby Bags, pencil cases and light backpacks – to name a few. Most of these packages are delivered to domestic destinations, but we do also collaborate with institutions abroad. The number of different packages delivered via Vaaka reaches about a thousand, annually.

Our best-known aid package is the Baby Bag. It is a small maternity care package consisting mostly of second-hand clothing and necessities. Recently, we have been able to give asylum seekers in Finland a bigger and more comprehensive (and now very popular!) version of the Baby Bag if they are not yet eligible for the official, national Baby Package.

In addition to babies and young families, we also help children of school age with e.g. pencil cases and backpacks. They are filled with equipment one finds important when attending school – from sports equipment and activity books to crayons, pencils, scissors, reflectors, and even dental hygiene products. Teenagers receive e.g. dressing-cases filled with toiletries.

Many Vaaka members are avid crafters, and we always have an ongoing crafts campaign. Sometimes we donate wool socks, at other times we sew happy, cozy clothes for babies in premature wards or knit wool blankets for youth psychiatric wards.

The different packages and crafts campaigns can be modified agilely; when we hear of a need, our volunteers join forces to quickly put together a campaign and do what we do best: when everyone does a little, together we achieve a lot.

We welcome new volunteers and donations to campaigns within Finland! Please contact vaaka.ry@gmail.com if you would like to become a Vaaka member (annual membership fee 25 €) or you wish to donate equipment for our campaigns. We look forward to hearing from you!