Nor'West News: February 22, 2024

Appeal for volunteers
‘‘Golden oldies’’ can come and see the
‘‘golden oldies’’ at North CanterburyCAB,
co­ordinator Theresa Evans says.
She says most the CAB volunteersare
aged over 65 and retired.
Volunteering at the CAB or any other
organisation allows people to stay
connected with their community after they
retire and gives them asense of purpose.
‘‘It means they brought their life
experience of raising children and their
work experience.
‘‘For us it is about encouraging people to
see that their experience is still valued
and empathy is still valued.’’
Theresa says the CAB is looking forward
to next month’s volunteer expos,
organised by Waimakariri District
Council.
The expos came out of local volunteer
co­ordinator network meetings.
‘‘All of us had difficulty recruiting and
some of it is financial, because we have
limited funds to pay for advertising,’’ she
says.
‘‘For CAB, the expo is agreat
opportunity to present our service and to
let visitors know that older people are
welcome to apply to become aCAB
volunteer.’’
New recruits are fully trained, with the
next training intake in May.
The training focuses on listening, nonjudgement
and ‘‘supporting clients where
they are at’’.
Volunteers attempt to give people the
confidence and support to take action to
resolve any challenges.
‘‘We listen and take the time to talk
things through and we hope the time we
have spent with them gives them the
background information they need.’’
CAB can offer advise on anything from
services for seniors, applying for
superannuation, transport of older people,
powers of attorney and wills, how to get
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Staying connected ... Volunteering at
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‘‘One of the benefits of coming to CAB is
we have the time,’’ Theresa says.
‘‘We don’t have appointments, so we can
spend as long as aclient needs.
‘‘People might come in about one thing
and once we have resolved it, they will
often open up about other issues.
Theresa says North Canterbury CAB has
acommunity directory of local clubs and
organisations, meaning if any prospective
volunteers find CAB is not for them, they
can be referred to other organisations
looking for volunteers.
Presbyterian Support is looking for
volunteers to assist with the Totara Club
day programme and volunteer van
assistants.
The Waimakariri District Council is
hosting volunteer expos from 5pm to 7pm
at the Rangiora Library on Friday, March
8, Kaiapoi Library on Thursday, March 14,
and Woodend Community Centre on
Wednesday, March 21.
For more information go to:
waimakariri.govt.nz/council/news­andinformation/2024/02/volunteer­expo­2024.
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GOLDEN YEARS
The North Canterbury News, February 22, 2024
21
Decluttering made
easier withhelp
Moving into aretirement village, or
preparing to downsize your home, is
so much more than just simply
making the initial decision to change.
For some it means facing a
potentially overwhelming task of
sorting through up to six decades of
accumulated, treasured belongings
and memories in the family home.
Alan Wood of Ryman Healthcare
says residents at Ryman Healthcare
villages, including Charles Upham
village in Rangiora, have been given
advice dealing with items that can
trigger happy memories, or remain
useful for their future lives.
Wellington­based decluttering and
moving service TaskMasters, owned
by Judy Thorpe, says she and coowner,
Jane van der Wilt, give
practical advice to potential
residents of retirement villages.
TheTaskMasters team help people
hone in on the precious memories
and associations that certain items
might prompt, and also talk aboutthe
practical side to adecluttering.
She says picking out items from a
lifetime, can be difficult, but can be
treated abit like ahighlights reel,
from the decades or chapters of welllived
lives.
‘‘As people get older they tend to
have less control over their lives, for
whatever reason, health issues being
acommon one.
‘‘So, it’s really, really important
they have some control over what is
happening.
‘‘We work with them to help them
decide what they need to declutter
and what they can actually take to
their new residence.
‘‘It’s sort of interesting.
‘‘Often we might say the samething
to them that their families have said
but because we’re an objective third
party, who has no vested interest or
emotional attachment... they’ll listen
to us.’’
Feeling they are in control of the
process, dealing with treasures from
their long well­led lives helps most
people declutter.
Even knick knacks that might not
appeal to others or are not really
useful to an outsider might be
precious to someone who has lived
through hard times.
‘‘These (items) are core to who they
are, and our view is they should
surround themselves with things that
make them happy.’’
It is also important to this
‘downsizing’ age group that items
they are letting go of, go to someone
else, or are at least recycled. They
have loved them once and now it’s
time to pass them to someone else to
love them.
‘‘The main focus is to encourage
them to actually start and do some
decluttering themselves to take the
pressure off their shoulders when
they have time, rather than when
they have to move when it is so much
more stressful.
‘‘When we do jobs we don’t just go
in and tell them to get rid of their
treasures.’’
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