Volunteer work

[Bushman]

Hi all,

Call it the start of a mid-life 'crises', but as I head towards 40 my mind is increasingly turning to how I can give something back to the community. I have two or three areas that I would be very interested in pursuing, namely:
1. helping women and kids recover from family violence;
2. helping kids that have drifted astray back into the workforce; or
3. visiting older people that may be lonely or helping them with food and medicine if they are struggling to make ends meet.

The only problem is I have no idea how to get started? I am not religious but understand that a lot of religious organisations are at the front end of providing such services.

So I was hoping that some ASF members could share their experiences of volunteer work and how they got started!

I think it is incumbent upon all of us to give something back if we can. I also want my kids to learn about others who are less fortunate than they are. But ultimately, it saddens me that there are people in our society who are fearful, who have lost hope, who are hungry or very lonely.

 

[pavilion103]

I love this stuff.

I am involved in a church in the Adelaide city.

I guess being part of a church, I was presented with the opportunities to help, which made it easier for me to find them. I'm in the core group for the Community Care branch of the church.

I help in the following areas:
1) I've run a feeding the homeless breakfast once a month for the past few years
2) Involved in kids camp and other kids events, working with a mixture of church kids and disadvantage kids.
3) Visiting retirement homes and spending time with the residents
4) Heading over to India in November to help in the schools and orphanages
5) Helping out with the youth program at church, spending time chatting and hanging out with teenagers.

Those are the some of the types of things my church offers. I'm sure many others are the same.

I really enjoy it. I've brought along a lot of non-Christians to help also and they love the experience too. A very rewarding time all around.

There'd be plenty out there. Good on you for wanting to get involved.

- - - Updated - - -

If you PM me and tell me where you are based, I could probably recommend any good churches which will likely provide some sort of opportunity to help out (we have links nationally).

In terms of secular based work I haven't enquired about any at this stage other than Camp Quality. There would be plenty of good opportunities out there.

 

[dutchie]

Can't help with your question, Bushman. But I like your attitude.

 

[skc]

Seek.com.au has a volunteer section from memory

 

[Lantern]

Great attitude. Also not religious, I just joined my local volunteer bush fire brigade, 20 years ago.
Have you thought about that.

 

[Bushman]

Great attitude. Also not religious, I just joined my local volunteer bush fire brigade, 20 years ago.
Have you thought about that.

Hi Lantern,

Only problem is I am living in inner city Melbourne! But that is a good idea that I had not thought off.

Do you need any specialist skills or is it a matter of learning on the job

 

[basilio]

Very rewarding Bushman.

Have you considered volunteering at a Hospice? There is something very special with helping people who are seeing the end of their days.

 

[Judd]

Meals on Wheels is another area. It isn't difficult and the people are glad to see and speak with you.

Couple of points if you do take up in one of these areas, particularly if it is with the elderly. First, be prepared for the inevitable it can be a bit distressing. Second, you may be required to have a background check if working with the vulnerable.

 

[Julia]

Hi all,

Call it the start of a mid-life 'crises', but as I head towards 40 my mind is increasingly turning to how I can give something back to the community.

Hi Bushman,
Good on you. Volunteering can be immensely rewarding. I've been involved since about age 30 when I joined Lifeline as a telephone counsellor. Just even the training period is a great experience where you learn more about yourself than the work you're potentially doing. I continued with this for about 8 years and met some really good friends through it as well.

I have two or three areas that I would be very interested in pursuing, namely:
1. helping women and kids recover from family violence;

I've always assumed you're a bloke, and if that's right, then maybe this wouldn't be the best choice. Most of the volunteers (and paid staff) in the various organisations in this field are women, essentially because most abused women have a low trust of men. There might, however, be opportunities for you to help in a practical rather than emotional sense with doing repairs to refuges etc if you have any handyman skills.
There will be several organisations in Melbourne from refuges to counselling services. A starting point would be to contact any Community Centre and ask.

2. helping kids that have drifted astray back into the workforce

There's a big need for this and/or mentoring of students still at school. The mentoring program here I've been involved with for about ten years works with kids in the schools and also with a separate program for kids who have dropped out. This is pretty tough going but there have been some great successes.
Contact would probably via schools or youth organisations, or maybe even just google 'mentoring' in your area.
You might also be interested in online mentoring via the Smith Family where you spend an hour a week on your computer chatting with a student in a different area. I did this for the first time this year and found it less than great as a process. Also didn't like that we received no background about the students, just the gender and age, so it was difficult to know how practical it would be, e.g., to encourage them toward tertiary education.

Another really interesting area you might not have considered is literacy tutoring for adults who didn't ever learn to read and write. These people are at a huge disadvantage (can't even fill out a Centrelink form etc) and eager to learn. I've probably enjoyed this more than any other of the volunteer work I've done and some of the people's stories put our own petty troubles into proportion.

3. visiting older people that may be lonely or helping them with food and medicine if they are struggling to make ends meet.

Yes, always needed. Nursing homes are very grateful for people prepared to visit those with no family.
Again, your community centres should be able to put you in touch with the appropriate organisations.
Many elderly folk who are frail and/or have lost confidence are very grateful for someone to eg go shopping with them, change their library books etc.

Another area is emergency relief assessment, usually run through community agencies or churches where people in financial difficulty request help with food, electricity etc. This can be demoralising and anger-inducing when they quite candidly tell you they can't pay the bills because they've spent too much on the pokies or booze etc.

Try govolunteer.org (or some variation of that) for a list of available volunteer positions throughout Australia.

I've noticed a distinct change in how organisations vet volunteers now compared with when I started.
All now do a police check and many require a blue card.

The only problem is I have no idea how to get started? I am not religious but understand that a lot of religious organisations are at the front end of providing such services.

I'd suggest not necessarily being put off religious organisations, none of which I've had contact with have imposed any religion on their volunteers. The only negative I'd say about the church organisations is that they are often unrealistic, and will continue handing out help/money to people who have no ambition to actually change their lives, learn to budget etc, rather than limit the handouts. It's nice to believe in people, but they don't seem to get that they're just being used in many instances.

Hope some of the above might help. The overwhelming take out message that I'd have for volunteering is that it's a great way to constantly be reminded of how fortunate we are, that we're simply not all born with equal opportunity, and if we're able to make the lives of a few other people a bit easier, then we benefit every bit as much as they do.

All the best, bushman. Hope you'll keep us posted on what you find.

- - - Updated - - -

PS to Pavilion. Great effort. Also shows us how much good some of the churches do. Thanks for telling us about it.

 

[Bushman]

I've always assumed you're a bloke, and if that's right, then maybe this wouldn't be the best choice. Most of the volunteers (and paid staff) in the various organisations in this field are women, essentially because most abused women have a low trust of men. There might, however, be opportunities for you to help in a practical rather than emotional sense with doing repairs to refuges etc if you have any handyman skills.
There will be several organisations in Melbourne from refuges to counselling services. A starting point would be to contact any Community Centre and ask.

Hi Julia, yes indeed I am a bloke. I had not thought about the trust angle. My interest is due to family reasons but I also do not have any great expertise in counselling etc. I work in the finance industry! I appreciate the feed-back.

Some great suggestions here...

 

[burglar]

Meals on Wheels is another area. ...

I'm a volunteer kitchen hand at Meals on Wheels.
If you can peel spuds and do dishes, you'd be an asset!

The running joke in the kitchen:
If you join the Army and misbehave you get
to peel spuds and do dishes as punishment.
And you get paid!! lol

 

[DocK]

If you are a competent driver, a lot of local councils are always looking for volunteers to take elderly/disabled people to medical appointments etc.

 

[Knobby22]

Become a cub scout leader.

 

[Country Lad]

Volunteering can be immensely rewarding.

Yes any type of volunteering as long as you enjoy doing it. There are many volunteering organisation and it is important that you select the one where you will be doing the type of work you are comfortable with and which you will enjoy. The happier you are doing the work the more both you and the recipients will get out of your efforts.

We have enjoyed volunteering on outback properties where in all cases circumstances arose (health, drought etc) where the owners were struggling to cope and could not afford to employ staff. Obviously a completely different environment to the corporate life we were used to, but that extreme change makes it so interesting.

Inspecting (and now & then cleaning) cattle troughs - a world away from the previous life of board rooms and owning companies.



Cheers
Country Lad

 

[Calliope]

Neighbourhood Watch, a worthy cause. http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/nhwq/

Step 1 - Identifying the need for a NHWQ group

The first step involves identifying five to 10 other like minded community members and meeting with them to discuss local crime problems and issues and how a NHWQ group could improve community safety.

This step is also used to identify key community partners like the local council and others who could be involved in supporting the establishment of a NHWQ group. Some key questions and important considerations during this step are:

Can you spare the time required to get a NHWQ group started?
Are you prepared to work with other community members?
Is there an existing active NHWQ group within your division and could you add your area to that group?
Are there other volunteer community groups that are looking at community safety issues and could you join them?
A preliminary geographical area that you want your NHWQ group to represent should be planned in preparation for the next step.

All NHWQ areas fall within a police division and they are not limited to any number of homes or streets. The size of NHWQ areas in your community will be determined through consultation between local police and the local community.

All police divisional boundaries throughout Queensland have been mapped as NHWQ divisions. This makes it easier for police to provide relevant and timely community safety and crime information to NHWQ groups.

After careful consideration of these issues you may determine that a NHWQ group is not needed at this time. If you think it is, then you should contact your local police station to find out how the QPS supports NHWQ and specifically how they can support you.

 

[burglar]

Why are volunteers not paid?
Is it because we are worthless?

No ... it is because we are priceless!!

 

[johenmo]

things wife n I have volunteered and been involved with:
- cubs/girls brigade leader and helper
- specialist school assistant
- primary school assistant (e.g reading recovery)
- Plunket: when in NZ (child health care)
- street van for street youth (fri/sat nights) (food and transport e.g. soup bus)
- community events (I've been in the house band 4 of last 5 years for carols in park - this is very enjoyable!); playing music at aged care facilities incl carol singing at Christmas; painting community hall.
- youth Friday night drop in centres
- Apex (you could try Lions or Rotary) - biggest project was paying for & building a jetty at a community lake. Had a few great years in this.
- local theatre stage hand & backdrop/scenery building
- Board of governance of Counselling Centre

And for all these, they can do with other people behind the scenes or fundraising.

You get to meet new people & sometimes make life-long friends. If one is single, it's a social event. As Julia said, don't be put off by religious organisations. 4 of the above were organised by various churches in various places.

Right attitude = great time. I'm considering a local aviation restoration group.

 

[Lantern]

Bushman, there are no special skills needed just a healthy and fit body to put up with the, sometimes, long hours.

The brigade has put me through some interesting courses though, such as basic fire-fighting, village fire-fighting, advanced fire-fighting, crew leader, first aid, traffic control, 4WD courses, they let me use the 13 ton truck to gain my MR driving licence, and breathing apparatus use and rescue in burning buildings.

I volunteer with a terrific bunch of guys and a few girls too.

I guess not to easy to do from inner Melbourne.

I'm on the far North coast of NSW, and it's looking like we are going to have a busy spring/summer.

 

[Judd]

I'm a volunteer kitchen hand at Meals on Wheels.
If you can peel spuds and do dishes, you'd be an asset!

I can and I can also cook but I'm not telling them that.

 

[stewiejp]

Bushman,

The good lady does a bit of volunteer work - she started through the local council and loves it. Even if the work is not done through the council they can point you in the right direction, and if necessary organise things like OH&S course (sigh), as well as things like Police checks, Working with Children checks etc. These often cost money, but generally if done through the council and are for the purpose of volunteer work they can be free.

Best of luck with it, keep us updated.