Volunteers time
Volunteer Central celebrate National Volunteer Week by hosting a tea and cake talk-shop.
July 19th, 2023
“If someone can only commit to a two-hour event once a year, that's just as valuable as someone who can volunteer 8 hours a day five days a week. ” Kate Aplin from Whatunga Tūao Volunteer Central shares what volunteering looks like in Aotearoa today.
Kate Aplin, Scott Groves, and Grant Smith celebrated National Volunteer Week by hosting a tea and cake talk shop at EASIE Living. They’re all involved in volunteering in different ways.
Check out disability information at EASIE Living
“It used to be that people would volunteer after they retire, but in today's reality, people cannot afford to retire.” Says Kate, Whatunga Tūao Volunteer Central Manager. This means people are doing more episodic volunteering, meaning they are only committing to volunteer for a small amount of time.
“It might be a six-week period, 3 months or a year that people volunteer in a particular role. If you're as lucky as we are to have the likes of Grant it is a bonus,” says Kate, “We're fortunate that we do have some longer-term volunteers, but the expectations of organisations should be not to have someone longer than a year. ”
Organisations and people that provide opportunities for volunteers often feel a sense of guilt for not paying somebody. The fact is people that do volunteer see their time as a gift and don't expect money back.
“We as organisations or people that work with volunteers need to get over our own sense of guilt,” Kate says. “Volunteers are doing it because they want to do it. They're doing it freely.”
Take it from Scott and Grant who, together have been volunteering for over 5 years. Although it started as a pathway for employment or getting out and about for some exercise, the pair have seen many unexpected benefits. They’ve met an abundance of people, made some great friends and are part of an amazing volunteer community.
“It's allowed me to transfer my life skills to other people. I am Inspired by the quality of the people who volunteer and their range of abilities,” says Grant. I am truly humbled by what other people are doing.”
Grant is a volunteer of 2 years and spends 3 days of the working in the reception of Volunteer Central, a few days for New Zealand Rugby Museum and often puts his hand up for one off events.
“There's more laughter and noise coming from our office than the rest of the building,” says Grant.
Scott was inspired to volunteer as a way of getting work but when 2020 sparked mandatory lockdowns, he wanted to do his part. When an Essential Well-Being role popped up, he applied at once. Scott supplied food, medicine, oxygen methods and rats test across the Mid Central Area.
"Every job I did was an instant goodie boost. Even from a simple smile, I got a happy psychological boost and so I took this into other volunteering areas,” Scott says.
Volunteer or get involved at Volunteer Central
Volunteers time with Kate
Check out Volunteers time with Kate video transcript
Volunteering for organisations
So one thing that organizations have when by working with volunteers is often these
are seeds of guilt that you're not paying somebody for doing something.
You've got to remember that volunteers are doing it because they want to do it.
You're doing it freely.
It's not something that you are having any compulsion to do.
So volunteers aren't expecting a payment.
Okay.
So as organisations or people that work with volunteers.
We need to get over our feelings of guilt around the fact that people actually do see
their time is the gift.
They don't need money back Another thing that's interesting around freely offering to do something,
is volunteering can’t give any sense of compulsion behind it.
It can’t be a requirement that you do it.
So if, for example, you get in trouble with the law and you're sentenced to community
service voluntary, you cannot be told to volunteer to get those community service hours.
However, if you want to volunteer and you sign up as a volunteer and choose to volunteer,
then those hours can be used as community service because the primary reason is that
you are volunteering.
If you are being told to volunteer, it is not counted as community service.
We wouldn't actually accept you as a volunteer if there was a reason for being there.
Likewise, you may be a few and have unfortunately lost your job or left your job or circumstances
have changed.
There's a stand down periods between you finishing your employment and being able to receive
a benefit.
MSD do say to people, particularly jobseekers, if you sign up as a volunteer, then you'll
get three weeks of your stand down period.
In other words, you will be able to start working or you'll get your benefits three
weeks early If you sign up to volunteer.
We actually don't provide any evidence to illustrate that people have volunteered.
The reason for that is when I first started, we would have people coming in and saying,
I've been told to come here by my caseworker.
We'd go through the whole process of signing up as volunteers, looking for changes for
them to volunteer, and we'd never hear from them again.
So that check the box to get three weeks off.
Volunteering with Grant
So when I was unable to play bowls, I thought I needed to do something.
I had all of this experience and things.
So I went and I started with Volunteer Central and then someone said you might like to be
a host at the Rugby Museum, and I'm a nutter about rugby, so I went down there.
I've made some great friends.
I do one morning every four weeks at the Rugby Museum and then Manawatū Prisoners Aid Rehabilitation
Society, wanted board members and I have a long association through with courts and with
prisons and things, so I'm on that board as a governance role.
And then I've done a few one offs like wacky Water Day at Roslyn and put my hand up and
went.
And it was a very well, I was the old fulla and there was a little young fulla about 25
years and we were in charge of car parking, getting the cars back and making sure everything
was right.
standing in the sun four or 5 hours.
But it was fun.
It was real fun.
And then we had the street thing where we did the popcorn and candyfloss, and then.
Scott: That was chaos.
Grant: Was chaos, Kate’s husband, we barbecued
for the US Navy when they did something up at the park and somebody asked about episodic
volunteering.
I find that they are.
The one offs are really good and I actually need to step myself out.
So I put my name down and then for a few weeks before hand i think, the hell would I do that
for?
And as I get closer, I get quite excited, you know I go and I enjoy it.
What it's done for me is allowed me to transfer skills to other people.
And I always used to mentor people when I was working to, um, to encourage people to
do look outside themselves.
I'm inspired by the quality of the people who are volunteering and the and the range
of abilities.
And they say you should never judge a book by its cover.
Well, some of the people who come into our office and you think, look at them and as
i’m registering them and and then they start to tell their stories and my mind's going
flat out, well, you know, this one might be suitable, this one might be suitable.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure in working three mornings a week with Kate, and Carla
is a hoot.
There's more laughter and noise coming from our office than in the rest of the building.
I'm surprised we haven't been told off on more occasions.
There’s a sort of satisfaction.
I get a great deal of satisfaction out of it.
And even though my knees prevent me from doing some of the things, I think, well, you know,
I've got these other abilities.
I've got a grandchild with challenges.
And she's never ever talked about having disability.
She's like I’ve got different abilities and it’s extremely inspiring to me.
So she's teaching me really and I just think there's so much, when I was in Australia,
people would say, with my friends would say, Oh, there's a nutter because I say goodbye
to everybody in the street.
I was living by myself.
So the first person I saw walking to the train in the morning, I'd speak to, you know, just
a good morning.
And I speak, even here if people look at me when I say, Oh, good morning, how are you?
But for a lot of the older people I see out walking in the morning, I'm probably the first
person they see and speak to.
So I have a group of walking ladies around the Roslyn area.
We have a smile, and how are you and the weather and everything.
You can see the change in them because somebody's spoken to them.
Yeah.
So you know I think that's part of volunteering isn’t it.
The volunteering gets me out and exercising.
So one thing leads to another and.
Guest: They all help each other?
Grant: Yeah.
It's, a cycle of life and getting on and.
But I am truly, I went to this recognition ceremony the other day for volunteers and
I was humbled by what other people were doing.
Really humbled.
Scott: Totally agree.
Grant: And it was 97, 85 year old lady who'd been
doing, she’d set up a club and then she'd done it in every role when she was still
away.
And then probably 30 something years of service.
It was just it was it was really humbling.
Check out Volunteering with Grant's video transcript
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