Volunteers
Volunteering is time willingly given for the common good and without financial gain.
Why Volunteer
Volunteering plays a valuable role in sustaining healthy, resilient communities and contributes significantly to the quality and vibrancy of our society.
The volunteering effort is valued at $5 billion annually in South Australia and around $3.3 million in the Northern Territory.
If we had to rely on paying everyone to undertake these activities, it would leave an enormous gap and society would be the poorer for it.
Who would fight bushfires, coach the under 12s, care for our parks and deliver meals to the elderly?
Volunteering can be short or long term or one-off.
People volunteer for many different reasons. Volunteering can be formal, through a volunteer involving organisation with a structured position, or it can be informal, for example by helping out at school, sports or local community activity without any obvious links to an organisation or structure to how you help or what you do.
Sometimes people ‘fall into’ their volunteering, and sometimes you may have a cause you are passionate about, a skill you wish to share, or someone who asks you to become involved. Whatever your type of volunteering, it is always your decision. While some volunteering comes with well-structured position requirements, such as emergency volunteers, many positions are more flexible while remaining functional. All volunteering needs to be enjoyable.
The main reasons people volunteer are:
- Make a difference to the lives of others
- Support for a cause that you are passionate about
- Give something back
- Help others less fortunate
- Help the environment
- Feel valued and part of a team
- Spend quality time away from work or a busy lifestyle
- Gain confidence and self-esteem
- Gain or develop new skills, knowledge and experience
- Improve employment prospects
- Meet new people and make new friends
Volunteering ASSIST
We offer a professional Volunteering ASSIST service providing one on one help to find the most suitable volunteer positions in all areas. Our Volunteering ASSIST team are experienced, making you feel comfortable as they spend time getting to know what skills and passions you have, and then help to match them to volunteering positions. Free appointments are recommended, in person, with times ranging from half an hour to an hour.