National Volunteer Week 2022: Centre for Participation thanks its volunteers

As part of its National Volunteer Week celebrations, Horsham's Centre for Participation hosted the tea at its new Laneway Cafe location at Federation University Wimmera Campus.

Participants across the organisation's many volunteer programs were in attendance.

National Volunteer Week is hosted from May 16 to 22, and encourages community groups and local governments to say thanks to the many selfless people who give their time to volunteer.

Centre for Participation Wimmera coordinator Marieke Dam said the centre would also be running a social media campaign, with posts dedicated to volunteers on the job.

"National Volunteer Week is always in May, and it is a week where we give out a lot of thank yous," she said.

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"There are many people invited and we just want to say thank you for all the hard work they have done over the years."

The Centre for Participation hosts many volunteer programs across the Wimmera, including medical and grocery transport services, Meals on Wheels, language classes and its licensing program L2P.

Ms Dam said such programs were often small in scope, such as assisting the elderly carry groceries from the supermarket, but were critical to those they helped.

"For example, our social support program is about keeping mostly elderly people independent at home for longer. We have volunteers come out and drive them to the shopping centre in their cars," she said.

"We also have so many people who need to go to medical appointments in Ballarat, and they just can't get there. They might have a family but they might not live close by. If we can help we will."

During her time with the centre, Ms Dam said the nature of volunteering had changed - more and more people who did not fit the 'typical' volunteer bill were getting themselves involved in whatever way possible.

"I have been here since 2012 and I have seen volunteering change, which is great," she said.

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"We still have the people who have retired and have a lot of time, and they are the people who can give lots. But we also have younger volunteers. For the learner driver program, where you do one hour a week, that is very flexible.

"You can do that after work, during the day, on weekends. It doesn't all depend on retired people."

Programs such as Meals on Wheels offered a flexible half-an-hour to an hour window in which busy people could give their service.

Ms Dam said many people did not realise they were volunteers, as the act was so ingrained in regional communities.

"There are so many people here who volunteer formally and informally. People do a lot but they do not realise that they are volunteering," she said.

"They are taking their neighbour to town, or they are volunteering for the local footy or netball club. That is all volunteering, but if you ask people if they are volunteering some people say no."

For those that were interested in volunteering, or had never tried it before, Ms Dam encouraged them to give it a shot.

"I think it brings a really good feeling. When you volunteer you feel like you are giving back. You hope that maybe one day when you need it, maybe someone will be volunteering for you," she said.

"It is important to keep it going, doing something that might not give you much but gives someone else a lot."

For more information on volunteering with the Centre for Participation, visit https://centreforparticipation.org.au/.

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