Celebrating the Power of People this International Volunteer Day
The balancing act of our busy schedules can be challenging and often overwhelming, but finding the time to volunteer in your local community can make a larger impact than you may think.
Whether it’s lending a hand at a local event or simply spending time with people, volunteering creates connections, fosters empathy, and strengthens communities. It’s a chance to step out of your daily routine, discover new perspectives, and become part of something bigger than yourself.
Thursday 5 December 2024 marks International Volunteer Day. A day that promotes and celebrates the important role volunteers play in our community.
What can be transformative for those who are supported, volunteers provide much-needed resources and assistance to organisations that may not have the means to do so independently. Volunteering shows people that they’re not alone and that others care enough to step in and help. These acts of service can be more impactful than any other material assistance.
Aged care volunteering
Recently, The Social Deck have been on the road, teaming up with the Department of Health and Aged Care, and local organisations (auspices) who are part of the Aged Care Volunteer Visitor Scheme (ACVVS).
We’ve held pop-up stalls, like these ones in St Kilda, Macedon Ranges and Brisbane, in 15 locations across the country, to talk to people about the benefits of volunteering to connect with older Australians. This government-funded scheme is aimed at supporting volunteer visits to provide friendship and companionship to older people who are socially isolated. The scheme has been running for over 30 years (formally the Community Visitor Scheme) and has connected with roughly 140 auspices around Australia.
I recently attended a handful of these pop-ups, and I was stoked to see such a diverse and open-minded crowd of people engage so positively with the stalls. With an ageing population, it’s more important than ever to have people of all ages connecting with older Australians.
Providing such a great opportunity to hear from locals, these pop-ups gave me a better insight into:
- the volunteering people already participate in
- barriers preventing them from volunteering
- different opportunities to give back to their community
These meaningful interactions on volunteering has also urged me to find different ways to volunteer in my own life and capacity.
TSD as volunteers
I see the great work our team does at TSD, but I took this chance on International Volunteer Day to find out a little more and celebrate what my fellow team members get up to outside of the office and within their communities. Some of which included:
- surf life saving
- coaching junior AFL
- local fire brigade
- junior table tennis coaching & parasport classifier
- aged care companionship
- facilitating local networking groups
- And plenty more!
It’s nice to step back and acknowledge our team’s connection to the community, but it’s inspiring to see how the team combine their interests and skills with opportunities to actively help others.
It can be so unbelievably easy to get caught up in your own life, that you don’t see opportunities when they’re right in front of you. Sometimes it’s as little as just one hour per fortnight that could make a world of difference to someone else.
If you’re looking to begin your volunteering journey, start by reaching out to the circles you’re already a part of.
And if you see volunteers helping in your community, throw them a compliment. Kind words are free, and so is volunteering.
If you’d like to find more opportunities to volunteer in your area, you can visit https://govolunteer.com.au/