Kaitūao o te Taitonga | Volunteer South celebrates ‘Something for Everyone’
by Neha Gosalia
Volunteers are the lifeblood of our communities, and their passion, skills and abilities are as diverse as their backgrounds. It is this varied range of contributions that keeps our communities connected and builds strength and resilience. This year alone we’ve seen 2094 referrals come through for 404 roles across 210 organisations on our website! Volunteer South recognises the importance of demonstrating that there truly is ‘Something for Everyone’ – an apt theme for International Volunteer Day 2024.
Volunteer South fostered new connections through our Find Your Perfect Match speed-dating style events, where community members went on short ‘dates’ with up to 20 community groups and organisations, to learn about and sign up for local volunteer roles. In October, we were pleased to be able to support Otago Student Volunteer Army, UniCrew, Ministry of Primary Industries, and Otago Rural Support Trust in their response to the recent flooding in our region, which resulted in nearly 400 hours of volunteering in a day, at a farm clean up!
We also facilitated youth volunteering days for Wakatipu and Dunstan High Schools and group opportunities for businesses, which offered people the opportunity to volunteer together, explore ways to contribute to causes they care about and experience first hand the impact of community organisations, which often goes unseen.
Whether it’s baking cookies at home, repairing appliances, supporting elderly social groups, mentoring youth, planting natives or just lending a kind ear – every single skill can make a huge difference! Volunteer South thanks volunteers across the Southern region for their continued contributions and encourages everyone to explore our website or contact us to get involved. volunteersouth.org.nz/roles
