volunteering

2000-2001

The International Year of Volunteers

Between March 1991 and February 2001 1.46 million hours of volunteer activity were recorded at Wesley Mission, Sydney, which equates to $20 million (based on average weekly earnings).

Some of the changing faces of volunteers include:

• the volunteer spirit is more evident in country areas than in cities
• increasing pressures in the workforce restrict people's time for volunteering
• work previously undertaken by volunteers is being replaced by funded, employment positions
• government funding of programs which use volunteers to provide service delivery
• the impact of 'mutual obligation' on the concept of volunteering
• the impact of formalised requirements in the management of volunteers
• the diminishing commitment to volunteering among younger people.

Volunteers greeted 2001 with great enthusiasm. The International Year of Volunteers offered unprecedented opportunities for recruitment and affirmation of volunteer efforts. Wesley Mission centres ensured their volunteers were affirmed and appreciated by governments and communities through special recognition functions held throughout the year.

In 2000 Wesley Mission volunteers set a worthy example when they formed part of Wesley Mission's Olympic Outreach team. Congregation members, general volunteers, paid staff and overseas volunteers exercised a ministry of word and deed to the hundreds of thousands of people who visited Sydney during the Games.

These efforts provided the impetus for the Centenary year of Federation. A volunteer report was commissioned so the findings could be released during the International Year of Volunteers, 2001. More than 1000 Wesley Mission volunteers were surveyed in the first two quarters of the 2000-01 financial year. The result was a watershed report - The Faces of Volunteering. The report concluded that between March 1991 and February 2001 more than 1.46 million hours of volunteer activity were recorded and equated to a value of over $20 million.

More than 95 percent of volunteer respondents said they were very satisfied with their service at Wesley Mission, 82.5 percent said they felt as though they contributed to something worthwhile and 77.02 percent said they felt like they had been of service to people in need.

Part of the report also documented Wesley Mission's volunteering history, including the work of Charlie Woodward, which spanned more than 30 years and that of his three close friends - Daphne Elvery, Marion Douglas and Gwen Buge who continued their volunteer service at Lottie Stewart Hospital Ladies' Auxiliary. The report also traced the early volunteer efforts of Lifeline and Vision Valley.

With the advent of the Wesley Mission volunteer web site, volunteering options have changed forever. A prospective volunteer can now glance and click on a range of options and quickly find an appropriate service that appeals to them.

Wesley Mission had just recovered from the Olympic Games when floods ravaged northern NSW. Again, Wesley Mission volunteers joined with staff and local volunteers to reach out to flood victims. Thirty eight pallets of food and 400 hampers were packed, transported and distributed in conjunction with general and local church volunteers.

At the end of the financial year the small island of Rotuma, north of Fiji, had a new high school library built by Wesley Mission volunteers. More than 5000 volunteer hours were contributed by Wesley Mission, Sydney Water and Rotuman volunteers to the construction of the library, the installation of bookshelves and the stocking of them with appropriate and relevant books.

The library will also serve as a community library while a mobile library is planned for later in 2001.

Connecting the generations...youth group volunteer Esther Atuatika shares a hug with Edith Strachan from R J Williams Lodge

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