The Star: June 17, 2021

28 The Star Thursday June 17 2021
National Volunteer Week
RECOGNISE. CONNECT. REIMAGINE.
Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu
20 - 26 JUNE 2021 | #NVW2021
Celebrating volunteering
National Volunteer Week, 20-26 June
2021, is an opportunity to celebrate
the volunteering which happens in our
communities around the country, and a
welcome chance to thank all those who
are out in their communities making a
difference. “The opportunity to make
a difference in our community must be
available to everyone”, Outreach Manager
at Volunteering Canterbury, Glenda
Martin, says, “and we are delighted
that, due to our wide range of member
organisations, the diversity of volunteer
roles we are able to offer does provide
opportunities for a wide range of people,
skills and interests”. While our older
adults may form the larger number of
current volunteers, the largest growth rate
remains with our younger people. “We
continue to be impressed by the younger
people who approach us to find out how
they can make a difference” Glenda said.
“Understanding the impact that the gifting
of their time has on the community,
together with providing a worthwhile
volunteer experience, will ensure that the
volunteering culture which has stood the
tests of time in this country for so long
will continue with this next generation of
volunteers.”
Volunteering Canterbury is shortly
launching an update of its online services
which will enhance access to information
on volunteering and volunteer
opportunities and sits alongside the faceto-face
service which operates from it’s
office in the heart of the city. Advocating
for volunteering and volunteers is another
important part of the day to day services
Volunteering Canterbury provides. “It’s
important that organisations recognise
their responsibilities to all those in their
work places”, Glenda says, adding that
Volunteering Canterbury’s Tautoko
Network: Supporting the Community
Sector programme provides regular
training opportunities in relevant areas
to support organisations’ volunteer
programmes.
For more information, contact
Volunteering Canterbury, Ph 366-2442,
www.volcan.org.nz.
Value volunteering
during National
Volunteer Week
Volunteering New Zealand is calling on
all types of volunteering to be valued during
Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu National Volunteer
Week.
Everyone who gives their time freely
deserves to be recognised for their mahi
aroha.
“Volunteering takes many forms including
formal volunteering with organisations
as well as mahi aroha and social action.
Combined with the everyday acts of
kindness between friends, neighbours and
whānau, they help shape the kind of world
we want to live in,” says Volunteering New
Zealand Chief Executive, Michelle Kitney.
The world-leading shape of
volunteering in New Zealand
Aotearoa has been recognised in
international reports as traditionally having
a high volunteer rate compared with the rest
of the world.
Around 2.5 million of our team of five
million actively support organisations and
other people through volunteering, social
action and mahi aroha. This adds up to a
voluntary contribution of 159 million hours
per year to enable our not-for-profit sector
to operate. This contributes $4 billion to our
economy.
Research also shows that if you live in a
community with high levels of volunteering,
even if you do not volunteer, your subjective
wellbeing will tend to be increased by all
that goodwill and social capital building
around you.
The shape of volunteering as
impacted by Covid-19
So, what’s the shape of our volunteer
sector at the moment?
“The impact of Covid-19 on the volunteer
sector has been very varied. We know that
some older volunteers stopped volunteering,
while we also saw a wave of new volunteers
across different age groups,” says Michelle.
“Regional differences have become
bolder, and the demographics of some
local communities are changing. Some
community organisations have experienced
an increased demand for their services,
stretching staff and resources. Funding
is the biggest challenge for volunteer
organisations.”
These were some of the results of a new
report, Status of the Volunteering Sector
May 2021: post-COVID recovery and
resilience. The research will help in the
sector’s recovery and preparedness for the
future.
The landscape of volunteering is
changing, in some cases exacerbating the
changes we were already seeing, in others
creating another shift entirely. Change
presents different challenges across
the sector, but also highlights unique
opportunities for reshaping and improving
the practice of volunteering. Volunteering
New Zealand continues to develop its
expertise in acting as the champion of mahi
aroha.
Call to action – keep shaping the
world we want to live in
Meantime, says Volunteering New
Zealand, volunteer organisations have
always needed more volunteers and better
funding. So, it has a few calls to action for
this National Volunteer Week.
• Look for where kindness, mahi aroha,
work for love, has impacted your life.
• Show your thanks to those people
giving kindness and mahi aroha through
#AotearoaOfKindness.
• Connect or reconnect with a community
or a cause that’s important to you through
volunteeringnz.org.nz/finding-volunteerroles.
• And for decision-makers, commit
to promote and value volunteering and
volunteers.
More information contact Michelle
Kitney, Chief Executive, Volunteering NZ,
phone 027 681 4956, email michelle@
volunteeringnz.org.nz or Margaret
McLachlan, Communications Manager,
Volunteering NZ, phone 027 247 8047,
margaret@volunteeringnz.org.nz
church corner
Thank you to all our
volunteers & duty members
- we could not do this without you!
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