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General News

3 June, 2024

Forum sets local volunteering agenda

Over 80 community minded individuals and groups came together last week to deliberate on the future of volunteering across the Central Goldfields Shire — and in doing so, set a positive course forward. Held on May 30, the Changing Face Of...

By Maryborough Advertiser

It was a full house, with an overwhelming number of attendees at the volunteer forum.
It was a full house, with an overwhelming number of attendees at the volunteer forum.

Over 80 community minded individuals and groups came together last week to deliberate on the future of volunteering across the Central Goldfields Shire — and in doing so, set a positive course forward.

Held on May 30, the Changing Face Of Volunteering forum highlighted the current trends in community participation and identified areas in need of a shake up.

President of the Maryborough Volunteer Resource Centre (MVRC), Tony Macer, said he was thrilled with the strong attendance and the community’s willingness to work together to support local groups.

“We had a lot of registrations and the atmosphere was electric with participants fully engaged in listening to the wonderful guest speakers and sharing ideas in focus groups,” he said.

The highlight of the evening was a talk by Dr Richard Mayes who has previously featured on Channel 10’s The Project and has also appeared on TedTalk as a presenter.

Known as the ‘Dancing Doctor’, Mr Mayes presented scientific evidence around the mental and physical benefits of social connection.

According to him, the social prescribing program in Castlemaine has found significant health benefits with medical and allied health professionals prescribing social connection as part of overall health care.

“As well as an effective initiative to address loneliness and social isolation, social prescribing could increase our pool of volunteers that so many groups desperately need,” Mr Macer said.

On the night, table discussions ranged over a range of topics, including — social prescribing, new ways of talking about volunteering and how volunteer training can be enhanced.

“The discussions highlighted the need for greater flexibility, and the need to listen to what volunteers need and want to get out of their volunteering experience,” Mr Macer added.

The second guest speaker, well-known local Garry Higgins, discussed ‘project-based volunteering’ as another way to connect with new volunteers.

Mr Higgins suggested that many volunteers are discouraged by long term commitment and are more likely to respond positively to a project that has a clear start and finish time.

Mr Macer was very pleased with the high level of input, feedback and creative solutions to boost volunteering.

“We heard loud and clear that the forum participants want to continue to develop a sense of networking together and there was a resounding agreement that the forum should be an annual event,” he said.

“There was a recognition on the night that our community groups need more training and administrative support.

“The recent grant writing workshops have also been appreciated and we look forward to the Pitch Night on the June 17, where groups will have the chance put grant writing proposals to a panel for feedback before submitting them.”

The forum came about as the result of a partnership between MVRC and the Central Goldfields Shire in an effort to reinvigorate community engagement.

“I have no doubt that the volunteer community has been energised by the forum. We know there is an appetite for greater networking and that the night will serve as a pivotal point in breathing new life into community participation,” Mr Macer said.

“The ideas generated at the forum will be fed into development of the council’s new Volunteer Strategy and will set the direction of the MVRC’s future work."

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