After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, UIC Barcelona held the fifth UICsocialday on the Barcelona Campus and Sant Cugat Campus on 17 March, the most significant solidarity event of the academic year.

This year, eleven local NGOs took part in the event, providing students and the whole community with an insight into the social world and local volunteering. Given the emergency situation in Ukraine, this year’s event also promoted three social causes focusing on offering aid to the country and to refugee families in Barcelona. Despite the forecast of rain, which forced the event to be moved indoors, many students and teachers attended UICsocialday and joined in the different activities offered on both campuses, which ensured that all the challenges were met. All of this was organised with the aim of raising awareness of diverse social realities and promoting volunteering with local social organisations that UIC Barcelona collaborates with throughout the year.

In addition to local volunteering, UICsocialday also promoted aid initiatives for Ukraine, focused on volunteering to help refugees. For example, people were encouraged to collaborate through the Cáritas Internacional donation campaign by giving personal hygiene products to supply the hotels that are hosting refugees in Barcelona, in collaboration with the Red Cross and the Hogar de María Association.

A minute's silence was also held on UICsocialday, a gathering that is being held every Thursday in March. At this event, the Student Council were invited to read out the Call for Peace. The Council representatives of each campus, Oriol Vergés and Mar Melero, were tasked with doing so on a day particularly focused on solidarity.

Thanks to the positive turnout, UICsocialday managed to complete all the solidarity missions it set out for the day in just a few hours. The various solidarity initiatives in support of local organisations focused on helping children with hearing impairment, pregnant women in disadvantaged situations, migrant and disadvantaged families, people with disabilities, the elderly and the homeless. They had the collaboration of Lindt, Disgo, Eurest and Caprabo.

All the social actions to benefit local entities ended yesterday as part of the UICsocialday. But the causes for Ukraine will remain active over the coming weeks through the University Students for Solidarity Service, part of Student Services, as well as the local volunteering opportunities with the NGOs participating in yesterday's event.