Counting on volunteers

On Monday Australians will celebrate the commitment of volunteers to improving the lives of others as part of National Volunteer Week.

This year’s theme “Every One Counts” emphasises the achievements of the six million Australian volunteers who have collectively contributed more than 700 million hours to community service.

According the the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Sydney is home to almost 492,000 volunteers who regularly donate their time, money and skills to unpaid work with environmental conservation programs, charities and youth support projects.

Last year’s NSW Youth Volunteer of the Year was Loki Ball who is also founder and director of Sydney Youth Engagement.

He volunteers around 30 hours per week while studying full-time at the University of Technology, Sydney.

“Only about 15 percent of youth volunteer, largely because they don’t fully understand what they can do or what opportunities are available to them,” he said.

He is involved with numerous charities and organisations including the Matthew Talbot Hostel for Homeless Men and the UTS Brennan Justice and Leadership Program.

Mr Ball is particularly passionate about youth engagement, education and social inclusion, and he devotes much of his time to inspiring youth to become involved in volunteer work.

“Young people have to be demanding of themselves. I like nothing more than hearing young people ask questions about what they want to do, how they can help.”

University of Sydney student Alisha King has worked with people with disabilities since she was 15 years old.

Last summer Respite Options asked her to accompany two teenaged girls to Camp Creative, an arts summer school and foundation partner of The Belligen Readers and writer’s festival.

Ms King has built up a strong relationship with the people she works with, whom she thinks of as her friends.

“It’s just fun stuff, it doesn’t feel like work. We just hang out,” she said.

Since moving to Sydney, Ms King as become involved in the charity A Billion Little Stones, which aims to stop mass atrocities.

As the charity liaison, the second year science student speaks with MPs about supporting the organisation.

She is also one of the charity convenors at The Women’s College at the University of Sydney, a position
that involves organising and coordinating charity and fundraising projects for students.

Sydney is rich with volunteer opportunities.

Most suburbs have community centres which offer support to residents.

The Bankstown City Council runs a Meals on Wheels program in which 270 volunteers supply locals with roughly 90,000 meals every year.

The program caters for the elderly and the disabled, and also offers a house-bound shopping service.

Mr Ball said each community has its own needs.

“Whether it’s homelessness in Woolloomooloo or juvenile justice in Western Sydney, there are many social needs and young people must be motivated to address them,” he said.

“Maybe it’s a question for later, maybe it’s a question for now, but ask yourself how you can be best positioned to be an agent of social inclusion.”

Loki Ball’s organisation Sydney Youth Engagement will launch its website in time for National Volunteer Week, from May 14-20.

By Eleanor Barz