Volunteering and Winter service: UC Chile students at the service of their country
Each winter, more than 3,000 UC Chile students mobilize throughout the country with a common goal: to serve. Leaving behind their vacations, rest, and comfort, they immerse themselves in vulnerable communities with their hands, hearts, and knowledge in service of these communities. This is the UC Chile Winter Volunteer Program, a deeply rooted tradition among our students, representing the University’s spirit of solidarity and transformation.
photo_camera The goal of UC’s winter volunteer programs and mission work is to help people lead more dignified lives, not only by providing concrete solutions, but also by building a relationship of mutual learning, support, and genuine empathy. (Photo credit: Muévete por la Salud)
Each year, hundreds of UC Chile students participate actively in fighting the inequalities that characterize the national reality. And 2025 won’t be any exception: 15 student organizations will be an active part of the change, traveling to rural areas, isolated locations, and communities affected by material and spiritual poverty, working side by side with neighbors, families, and communities. In this way, they build, accompany, educate, heal, and listen. And they do so as part of their comprehensive university education, which is not only academic, but also values-based, spiritual, and civic.
A meaningful legacy
Volunteer work is much more than a charitable experience: it is a profound learning opportunity outside the classroom that transforms those who participate. In these spaces, UC Chile students have the opportunity to apply what they have learned in their studies, but also to develop essential human skills, such as empathy, leadership, teamwork, and the ability to listen.
By facing realities that are different than their own, students become not only more well-rounded professionals, but also more conscious, committed people who are willing to put their talents to the service of the common good. This experience—in the field, with their hands in action and their heart in the community—allows students to discover the true meaning of their vocation and the impact that their work can have on others’ lives. This way, volunteering becomes an extension of students’ formative academic experience, forging agents of change with a comprehensive view of the country and the world.
For Carola Méndez, Director of Student Affairs, this experience is much more than just an extracurricular activity. It is part of the mark that the university seeks to leave on its students. “Undoubtedly, being a volunteer is and will be an important experience. We also had our era marked by people that we carry in our hearts, and this is why we are sure that living these types of experiences will be equally or even more significant for students’ development as human beings,” she stated during the recent sendoff ceremony, a symbolic event marking the beginning of the volunteer programs.
The Director highlights the importance of the stories that emerge from these works: “they reflect the commitment to contribute, to leave a mark, to make peoples’ lives more dignified, especially in these times where the needs are many and the resources are few. You students can bring real solutions, with knowledge and empathy,” she states.
Volunteering also represents a key moment of personal and collective encounter: “It is an opportunity to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to learn from others. We are proud and we are grateful to you and the effort you make to manage yourselves, raise funds, obtain food, coordinate… This speaks of social leadership in its noblest form,” she emphasizes.
UC Chile’s “noble face”
President Juan Carlos de la Llera also highlighted the symbolic character of these works. “I am deeply moved to see in all of you the most noble face of a university that serves, that listens, that supports, and that takes action,” he said during the recent sendoff ceremony in which volunteers receive their flags.
See the 2025 sendoff ceremony in photos (Photo credit: Vive la UC)
“Chile needs more of this transformative energy. Chile needs young people who don’t turn a blind eye to vulnerability, who are able to look people in the eye, listen, and accompany them. Young people who understand that building a fairer country is not the sole responsibility of the authorities, but of all of us. And you are already doing it in a concrete manner, often silently, but tremendously meaningful,” the UC Chile President added.
He also mentioned: “Pope Francis, in one of his most memorable speeches at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, urged young people not to merely “be observers of life.” Not to stand and watch life from afar, comfortable and indifferent, while others act. You, you are doing precisely the opposite: you have stepped out from the sidelines, you have become involved, you have made a commitment. You have decided to act. And this, in a world that so often rewards indifference, is a deeply counter-cultural and valuable gesture. You have embraced life as a shared project, as a journey that is travelled alongside others, not as spectators, but as protagonists.”
Building dignity
Among the various projects that make up the winter volunteer programs, there is one group that does some heavy lifting – literally – working on construction projects to support vulnerable families. These volunteers not only build houses or community infrastructure, but they also build dignity, opportunities, and hope.
In rural zones or communities affected by poverty, natural disasters, or neglect, these students design and implement concrete solutions that respond to the real needs of the territory. Whether they’re building meeting spaces, emergency houses, or tools for local entrepreneurship, students combine the technical knowledge gained through their studies with a strong sense of social awareness.
“Constructive Action” is a volunteer program created by students from the School of Construction that specializes in housing and infrastructure solutions. Araceli Coria, General Coordinator, explains that it is focused on “bringing concrete solutions to real needs,” such as adapted emergency shelters, greenhouses for people with disabilities, or training workshops.
“We learn as much from the communities as they do from us. We apply knowledge and develop empathy, communication, management, and teamwork skills. It’s a two-way learning process with real impact,” she asserts.
Healthcare for communities
At the heart of winter volunteer work, there is also a group of students that have decided to put their vocation for service to the direct care of people’s health. These are future professionals who travel through rural areas and vulnerable communities to bring healthcare services that often do not reach these areas, due to lack of resources, long distances, or scarcity of specialists.
Ranging from oral cancer prevention to promoting self-care for children and encouraging good oral hygiene, to dental, dermatological and kinesiological care, these volunteer programs share a common goal: to contribute in a concrete manner to people’s comprehensive wellbeing. Beyond the classroom and the theory, volunteers bring with them knowledge, humanity, and empathy, with the conviction that access to healthcare cannot depend on where someone is born, or where they live. In each intervention students not only provide treatment or information, they also provide a listening ear, closeness, and dignity. In a country where deep inequalities persist, these UC Chile students are living proof that another approach to healthcare—more humane, committed, and community-based—is indeed possible.
The volunteer program “Mouths more than teeth”, led by students of Dentistry, has the mission of preventing oral cancer. Francisco Velásquez, its Logistics Coordinator, explains that they have conducted outreach in vulnerable municipalities, focusing on education and early diagnosis. “Many of our patients had never been to the dentist before. Being able to educate and prevent a deadly illness is a concrete way to put our careers at the service of the people,” he states. “We develop clinical skills, but also human ones: leadership, empathy, and social responsibility.”
Ethan Rothfeld, general manager of “Muévete por la salud” (“Move for health”), a student organization celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, states that volunteering is a direct bridge between the university and the reality of the country: “We bring UC Chile’s knowledge, willingness, and energy to historically underserved communities. But we also bring back invaluable lessons that greatly enrich our education,” he reports.
“Many of our patients had never been to the dentist before.” About the experience, he says: “It helps us understand the inequalities in access to healthcare in Chile and motivates us to be active participants in creating a fairer system. This creates a two-way dialogue: while these communities benefit from our work, we become more aware, empathetic, and committed students within the social reality of the country,” he states.
Pastoral UC Chile: An open space
For the Director of Campus Ministry Ángela Parra, volunteering is also a path of spiritual growth, open to all. “Regardless of beliefs, volunteering is an opportunity to encounter others and oneself. It is a search for truth and meaning, which is also part of the university’s mission.”
Over 100 young people are part of the Misión País Choir, a project that brings music to communities as a means of spiritual connection. Its coordinator, José María Correa, explains: “We work in mixed areas with mission projects, complementing the experience with music in workshops, prayer spaces, and community gatherings (…) Music unites, transcending differences. It is a way to bring people closer to God and to each other – a service that offers beauty, comfort, and meaning.”
For Cristóbal Peirano, General Coordinator of Trabajo País, being part of a volunteer program is something that undoubtedly transcends one’s own life. “What drives me is feeling that, with my hands, effort, and time, I’m contributing to society. I’m building a character of service that will also help me professionally, but, above all, as a human being,” he says.
A fairer country, a fuller heart
The UC Chile volunteer programs aren’t just another activity on the university calendar. They’re a school of humanity, where students discover themselves in community, challenge themselves, and learn that service is also a form of leadership.
UC Chile, through the Office of Student Affairs, Pastoral UC, and different faculties, promotes these spaces as part of their comprehensive educational mission. “I hope this winter volunteer work is an enriching experience—one of mutual learning, deeper understanding of yourselves, and collective growth. May you return with more questions, new ideas, and fuller hearts,” said UC Chile President De la Llera.
Chile is vast, unequal, and challenging. But in every corner where a group of volunteers arrives, a piece of hope arrives with them. Young people who don’t just stand and watch, but who roll up their sleeves and build, who dream of a more dignified country and work to achieve it.
