Inner West

  Donate

IDAHOBIT 2021

LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion at Burdekin

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) celebrates LGBTQIA+ people globally and raises awareness for the work still needed to overcome LGBTQIA+ discrimination.

Did you know that Monday May 17th marked 30 years of IDAHOBIT?

30 years ago – on May 17, 1990 – the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.

Here at Burdekin, we’re lucky enough to have an incredible, diverse, and accepting workforce. So, we stood together to celebrate, support, and show our pride of the colourful LGBTQIA+ diversity of our workplace by sharing a meal and a delicious rainbow cake!

Here are some snaps from the day! Big thanks to everyone who helped out, especially Matt for cooking up a fantastic feed!

IDAHOBIT2021

Image 1 of 7

National Volunteers Week 2021

Volunteers come from all walks of life with a variety of skill sets

In line with the theme of this years National Volunteers Week 2021– Recognise, Reconnect, Reimagine, we are holding an event for our amazing volunteers this year.

We launched the Burdekin Volunteer Program during National Volunteers Week 2020, which means we are celebrating the first birthday of our program as well as National Volunteers Week. Our volunteers will be treated to a meal plus a Certificate of Appreciation from our CEO who will be attending along with some Burdekin staff. We are really looking forward to it.

We are also currently launching our Volunteer Program in the Inner West. Our hope is that by next year there will be even more volunteers who have given their time and expertise to celebrate.

If you would like to read more about volunteering with us check out the links below:

Volunteer With Burdekin

Burdekin Skilled Volunteers

Our Current Volunteer Vacancies

Thank you to all of our Volunteers for the amazing work you do. We couldn’t do it without you. Join National Volunteers Week 2021 with the hashtag #NVW2021

Our Inner West Services

The Burdekin Association are now in the Inner West

Did you know that our office for our Inner West services is based in the heart of Marrickville on a nine acre heritage site within the Addi Road Community centre?

Addi Road is Australia’s largest non-profit community centre and is home to 43 vibrant and dynamic tenants. These tenants range from local artists, performers and theatre troupes (Ultimo Project, Drawn To Seeing) all the way to mental health services (Autism Spectrum, Youth Off The Streets) and community organisations (Maggie’s Rescue, Radio Skid Row).

The Burdekin Association are there now too and we are delighted to be part of this community. We love what we see and experience and are looking forward to becoming a fixture in the Inner West.

Our Inner West Services

Our Inner West services are under the umbrellas of Out of Home Care are Supported Family Group Home, Supported Independent Living, Staffed Care Home and Interim Care Model. We would love to hear from you so please get in touch – we are a friendly bunch. Read more about our services here.

Why not check out Addi Road as well as War on Waste (Wow)? WOW is a project in the Inner West that is devoted to saving perfectly good food that would otherwise be thrown out. The food is then diverted to those who need it. You can also view The Food Pantry, which helps you stretch your budget and put healthy food on the table, whilst reducing your carbon footprint.

We are loving the Inner West Council website what’s on listing for all sorts of amazing events, courses and classes for all ages.

Our Volunteer Program

Would you like to volunteer with The Burdekin Association

The Burdekin Volunteer Program was established in 2020 following numerous expressions of interest to volunteer with Burdekin. The purpose of the Burdekin Volunteer Program to date has been to:

  • identify potential areas where we could benefit most from the work of volunteers;
  • create a volunteer team;
  • identify what skills are required for the volunteer positions;
  • organise a support system for our volunteers;
  • recruitment; and
  • training and induction.

The team

A lot has been going on behind the scenes as we put our team together and focused on the objectives of the Burdekin Volunteer Program.

  • Jill Wrathall is our Volunteer Manager, who throughout the process has helped us to understand what we needed.
  • Kim Backhouse was next to come on board as our Volunteer Co-ordinator.
  • And we also have Kerri Muir as the Northern Beaches Co-ordinator and Renee Harrison as the Inner West Co-ordinator.
Our Volunteer Co-ordinators
Jill Wrathall, Volunteer Manager and Kim Backhouse Volunteer Co-ordinator

The team meet on a regular basis to discuss:

  • the areas of activity that we have highlighted as potential areas for volunteer engagement;
  • volunteer recruitment, induction and training;
  • how the program is progressing;
  • what the problems and solutions are;
  • yearly activities;
  • harnessing the energy and commitment of our team of volunteers.

Current volunteer vacancies

  • driving supervision;
  • mentoring support;
  • coordinating programs;
  • general maintenance;
  • ‘House Angel’ – this role is varied to suit the needs of a particular residence – for example cook.
We are recruiting volunteers in the Northern Beaches and Inner West areas of Sydney.
Maybe you have skills such as driving supervision that you would like to share with young people

Potential vacancies in the future

  • Events
  • Campaigns
  • Admin
  • Sports
  • Companion
  • Teaching
  • Tech

Our Volunteers

We currently have a total of 10 volunteers with another 3 going through the recruitment process and 4 that are on student placements as well as volunteering.

Volunteers should be able to give 2-4 hours per week and live in or near Sydney’s Northern Beaches or Inner West areas.

If you would like more information about our volunteer program please visit our volunteer page and our current vacancies page.

Volunteers are people of all ages and backgrounds and play a significant role in creating a society that we all benefit from directly or indirectly.

Our young people and the community benefit immensely from volunteers.
Volunteers bring immeasurable value to the lives of young people

We acknowledge the Aboriginal people of the Cadigal and Gayamaygal Clans. We acknowledge the Country on which we live, work, and gather as being Aboriginal land.

We acknowledge the lands, waterways and skies that are connected to Aboriginal people. We honour them and pay our deepest respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

We respect their rightful place within our communities, and we value their ancient cultural knowledge and practices.

Aboriginal Flag
Torres Straight Island Flag

We deeply respect that this will always be Aboriginal land and we will honour and follow the first peoples’ values in caring for the Country and for preserving their culture.

We deeply value that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the oldest living culture in the world and we will continue to work with their peoples and communities to ensure their cultures endure and remain strong.