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General News

18 December, 2023

New approach to volunteering

From contributing to the neighbourhood house, the footy club or the animal shelter, volunteers play a crucial role in supporting various groups across the shire — and to ensure the community continues benefitting, locals are hosting an important...

By Prealene Khera

Councillor Anna De Villiers, Kylie Long, Anna Ballinger, Faye Pyke, Jeff Hoober, Helen Ritchie, mayor Liesbeth Long and Sue Culley are excited to adopt a fresh approach to volunteering.
Councillor Anna De Villiers, Kylie Long, Anna Ballinger, Faye Pyke, Jeff Hoober, Helen Ritchie, mayor Liesbeth Long and Sue Culley are excited to adopt a fresh approach to volunteering.

From contributing to the neighbourhood house, the footy club or the animal shelter, volunteers play a crucial role in supporting various groups across the shire — and to ensure the community continues benefitting, locals are hosting an important volunteering-focused event next year.

The Central Goldfields Shire Council (CGSC), working alongside the Maryborough Volunteer Resource Centre (MVRC), has been reviewing its Volunteer Strategy and Action Plan, with the aim of improving volunteering locally.

First adopted in 2021, the plan has successfully guided the operations of the MVRC, until recently, with members requiring additional support from council due to a shortfall of resources.

To meet the growing needs of the resource centre and to better the volunteering landscape in the shire, the Volunteer Stewarding Group was formed earlier this year — consisting of council employees as well as members from the MVRC.

One of the first actions executed by the new group involved a survey which was centred around understanding the community’s volunteering requirements and barriers.

Throughout July, more than 75 locals shared their thoughts on the subject, highlighting the need to:
• Reshape the public perception of volunteering
• Make volunteering accessible and inclusive
• Help people who are at risk of social isolation to benefit from volunteering opportunities
• Focus on the volunteer experience
• Adapt to the changing needs of volunteering
• Recognise the inherent value of volunteering and commit to strategic investment.

Following the outcomes of the survey, the stewarding group is planning to host a Community Volunteering Forum during National Volunteer Week next year — inviting all residents to help shape what comes next.

Councillor Anna De Villiers said it was really pleasing to see how the group had come together to address a nation-wide problem in a local context.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have such a proactive, engaged group of residents that make up the MVRC,” she said.

“We congratulate them for their contribution over the past two and a half years as we work with them to determine what the resource centre looks like moving forward.

“I feel really optimistic about the work that has been done to date, we are much clearer now about what is needed to help change the volunteering landscape locally and the forum next year will allow us to build on this further.”

Echoing the sentiment, MVRC member Faye Pyke said volunteers were critical to small communities across the Central Goldfields.

“We’ve actually got a high percentage of volunteers in our shire — which is great, but we still need more,” she said.

“We know that volunteering can mean different things to everyone. It could be walking the neighbour’s dog or helping in a group or doing a shift at the canteen during football and netball season.

“Whatever it might be —volunteering can bring a lot of joy. For me personally it contributes so much to my overall wellbeing.” ­

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