2012 Annual Report - Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia

Education Report continuedYouth Eco Summit provided environmental workshops and speakers for over2,000 students at Newington Armoury, Sydney. WEEC staff accompanied a busload of Hunter students to the event for one of the days.Wetlands EEC staff are represented on a number of HWCA managementcommittees including, Board of Directors, Site Management Committee and OH&SCommittee.Volunteer Coordinator Report - G. Morgan2012 saw a major overhaul of ourVolunteering Coordination with RaeshealNelson moving on to other things, wewould like to thank her for her tirelessefforts on behalf of volunteers. Continuedimprovements to the Volunteer databasedesigned by Jake Relf with the assistanceof Paul Trute and Glenys Palmer haveassisted in upgrading the record keeping forvolunteers. This is an ongoing process andfurther improvements are expected overthe coming year. Reduction of paper workand better integration with our WHS systemshould ensure that volunteers’ needs arelooked after more efficiently.The value of our volunteers continues tobe recognised throughout the community.Darren Duggan, Linda Robens, CameronArnott and our finance and nursery teamsare all amongst those whose efforts havebeen recognised throughout the year for anoutstanding contribution to the community.Other volunteer programs such as thearrangement with the University ofNewcastle’s Language Centre have receivedstrong support and are the envy of othervolunteer organisations. Our relationshipwith the University of Newcastle continuesto grow through popularity of these andother activities, student volunteers andestablishment of relationships with theTom Farrell Institute for the Environment,Newcastle University Postgraduate StudentsAssociation and Engage Newcastle.Hunter Wetlands Centre has been successfulin getting some grants that have beendesigned improve the volunteeringexperience. NSW Mine Safety Board providedus with a small community grant to fund our“Safe Volunteer Team Project” this has beenvery successful and would like to thank themfor their support of our volunteers. This granthas seen the purchase of first aid kits, newuniforms and an AED but most importantlyis paying for training of volunteers andsupervisors in safety and first aid. This willhelp us prevent injury and illness amongstour volunteers and be prepared to deal withaccidents when they occur.20