Volunteers are everyday people who give a little bit of their time to a cause that resonates with their personal values and they are worth their weight in gold!
Our Volunteers add so much to the lives of the young people here at Burdekin.
It doesn’t suit everybody to become a foster carer and volunteering might be a great alternative. Volunteers provide weekly connections to the lives of young people, many of whom have not experienced relationships with trusted adults in their lives.
Some of our valiant volunteers:
- Volunteer Audrey visits one of our houses weekly and assists the carer by cooking the evening meal for the 3 young teens who live there. The kids often join in and the carer appreciates the adult company. We call Audrey a “house angel”.
- Volunteers Tom and Issy are assisting two of our young people to get their drivers licence by helping them gain the 120 supervised Learner hours.
- Volunteer Anna is helping a 17 year old who is studying to become a hairdresser.
- Hugh is helping a young man to improve his English.
- Sarah is providing valuable help in the office, doing an important task that takes time.
- Georgie plays sport after school with one young girl.
- Monique takes a young person out each Sunday and they discuss art and music.
We recognise the huge value a volunteer who is choosing to give up their time to be with a young person contributes. One young person said recently: “You mean she’s not paid to be with me? That’s cool.”
Whilst many individuals volunteer to give something back to their community, most volunteers find that they experience a number of benefits too. Volunteering has been proven to have benefits to both physical and mental health – it’s a win win!
I’m ready to volunteer – what’s next?
Read more about what it is like to become a volunteer with Burdekin and fill out an expression of interest. You might also like to read about our volunteer team and what sort of help we are looking for. We will also be running our next volunteer recruitment drive including training dates in May this year – watch this space.
We have also teamed up with Mentoring Men who provide free long-term one-to-one life mentoring programs for men Australia wide. Our partnership aims to engage male volunteers into our Volunteer Program for our young people.
