As part of its programmes CV has always offered a "Helpline" service which provides free advice and support to citizens in their disputes with government agencies, irrespective of their economic standing, political affiliation or religious beliefs.

The Helpline Service was born as a truly altruistic service with the aim of responding to citizens' 'calls for help'. It is a volunteer service and has never tried to be anything else. The volunteers do not have the background to give professional advice on every issue, however they represent a first port of call for citizens in need.
Citizens could of course go straight to a lawyer or an accountant for advice. And, where it's appropriate, the "Helpline" will advise them to do just that. But if they need help immediately, or if they are not sure if meeting with a lawyer or an accountant is necessary, then they can just dial the Helpline (see Contact Us) and arrange for a free consultation.

Our volunteers are also ready to drop whatever they are doing and rush to provide 'physical support' in case the caller needs it.

For example, last year we responded to a 'Call for Help' from a 98-years old lady. One of our volunteers drove her to the police station, helped her draft a court statement to the police authorities, supported her during the police interview, and finally took her back home. Although on that particular day we were short on manpower (we only had one volunteer on duty, and thus we were forced to close the office to answer this call for 'physical support') we would never have dreamt of not responding to her call for help.
And needless to say, we are still in touch with this lady and hope to celebrate her 100th birthday - all together, her and the Helpline volunteers.

OUR Call for Help - We Need YOU!

As you can imagine this kind of volunteer service takes a lot of dedication not to mention money. And every single cent we receive comes from users' voluntary donations - we receive no government funding to cover our costs.
Calls are now coming from everywhere and are getting more frequent - last year alone we had 274 requests, and this year we don't imagine it is going to be much different.
Scarce resources and lack of volunteers are forcing us to say 'NO' to many calls for help. Too many requests for advice and support, too few volunteers to provide the necessary help, and too many complaints from members, are forcing us to consider restricting the "Helpline" service to CV members only.
However, this would mean betraying our initial vision of a free, independent Helpline available to everybody.

The alternative would be to restructure the service in such a way that queries and requests not needing professional advice can be dealt with by our normal volunteers, while requests needing more expert advice would be dealt with, within certain time slots, by volunteers with the necessary professional qualifications.
For example, professional lawyers or accountants could be providing free advice one day a week, for a couple of hours, in 20 minutes time slots. During this short meeting the professional could quickly examine the case and advise on how to proceed. If the case is complicated, it will need to be examined more in depth. However, at this point, a new appointment will need to be set up with the professional - at his/her office - and a normal fee will need to be paid.

To turn this possibility into reality, we need volunteers with professional qualifications in law and accounting.
If you agree with our philosophy and are a lawyer or an accountant, please consider volunteering your time for a couple of hours a week - see Contact Us or write directly to helpline(at)confederazioneveneziana.org [replace (at) with the correct symbol to get a valid e-mail address].

We can only continue to respond to 'Calls for Help' with the support of people like you!

In providing this service NO money is taken by the Helpline volunteers towards their personal expenses nor do they receive any payment for their time.