2022 LoVE Awards and Launching Rangatahi Te Mahi Tūao

Tēna koutou, Tēna koutou, Tēna koutou katoa.

Ko Cheryll Martin ahau. Ko Kaiwhakahaere matua I General Manager ahau, for Volunteering Auckland. It is my privilege and pleasure to MC these awards today.

My colleague in volunteering, DJ Cronin, recently said, “You may have many different titles but you are leading, coordinating and facilitating a volunteer movement.”

He said, “You are privileged to do what you do. You are change makers and dynamic. Everything you do in your profession has a ripple on effect that many don’t see. People are helping themselves through volunteering. People are helping others through volunteering. New friendships are being forged. Peoples lives can change because of volunteering. And there you are, in the middle of it all, sometimes wondering if you are making a difference. Sometimes wondering if you will ever be truly appreciated, or recognised, for the many skills you have, that you must have, to bring to the job that you do.”

Its Volunteering Auckland's privelege to be a part of truly appreciating you for what you do – as a company, as an organisation with a volunteer involving programme or as a Leader of Volunteers.

Recognizing those who lead in the volunteering space, individuals, organisations and companies, is an important aspect of our advocacy to ensure that the volunteering environment is encouraged, dynamic, and changes to support our communities as the world around us changes.

Encouraging the next generation’s volunteering efforts is an important part of changes that we need to see, that we need to support – we already know that young people are volunteering in large numbers across Tāmaki Makaurau, sharing their own volunteering stories and working towards a future where our communities, our world is greater for them having been in it.

However, many more young people struggle to find where they fit in the volunteering environment, struggle to find a volunteering place, or a volunteering opportunity, that matches their passion, their skills, and more importantly, their values.

Today we will be hearing from young people themselves about volunteering, about their own volunteering and what they think should be happening to support young people now and into the future to ensure a volunteering environment that survives, that flourishes, and that continues to engage the attention of our future volunteers.

Corporate Champion Award
Volunteering can have a profound effect on our people, the sights they see, the things they hear and what they learn during their volunteering. As a company, by supporting volunteering during working hours, you are ensuring that volunteering is more accessible to your employees and demonstrates your commitment to your communities.
Advancing good in the world is important to this Business. Their commitment to social impact extends beyond the boardroom and into Auckland’s communities through their strong voluntary ethos.

Having staff from diverse backgrounds also means that there’s no one size fits all to their volunteering activities so staff get to participate in a variety of roles.

Volunteering together as teams does not stop their efforts after closing time, with their staff also advocating for their causes outside their professional roles and into their private lives.

This award, the Corporate Champion Award, is given to one of Volunteering Auckland’s Corporate members who has shown leadership in encouraging and supporting their staff to volunteer. They are a long standing member of Volunteering Auckland and have made the most of accessing our support and services in helping them to volunteer

To present the Corporate Champion Award - Sudha Bhana, Manager Volunteering, Cancer Society Auckland and Chairperson of Volunteering New Zealand

The Winner of the 2022 Corporate Champion LoVE Award goes to:
Marsh McLennan, represented here today by Signe Bell, Marketing Specialist.

Volunteer Involving Programme Award
A good volunteer involving programme takes more than one person – a good volunteer programme ensures that from the top down in the organisation, that volunteering is seen as an integral part of an organisations success.
From Boards, Committees, Management , Staff and the volunteers themselves, all have a part to play in ensuring that volunteering and volunteers are seen, and are supported as the valuable resources that they are.

From looking at volunteering through your strategic planning lens to developing appropriate budgets, from creating opportunities for a diverse and inclusive volunteering environment to recognising volunteers as an integral part of your organisation’s mission. All these are many parts of a whole that ensures the success of your volunteer involving programmes.

This organisation ensures that its processes and practices are condusive to a positive experience for volunteers. They see the importance of combining the upskilling of their volunteers with fostering an appreciation and knowledge of the community they are involved with.

This organisation not only acknowledge and celebrate their volunteers, but most importantly value them for more than what they are doing.

Volunteers are listened to, asked for their feedback on the organisation, and what keeps them involved. All this helps give future direction to their volunteer programme and ensures that the volunteers stay connected and committed to their service. As one volunteer said, when asked why they stay, “We are well taken care of.” – a high praise indeed.

This organisation has been a member of Volunteering Auckland since 2014, in fact, regards Volunteering Auckland as a “staple” for their organisation in supporting their volunteering.

To present the Volunteer Involving Programme Award - Lindy Lely, Manager Volunteering, ADHB – Auckland City and Starship Hospitals, and a Trustee of Volunteering New Zealand.

The Winner of the 2022 Volunteer Involving Programme Award goes to:
West Auckland Budget Service, represented here today by Fiona Snijder, Operations Manager.

Launch of Rangatahi te Mahi Tūao
Young people have always wanted to volunteer. We have seen them as climate action activists, environmental warriors and as companions to the elderly. We saw many take up volunteering throughout the pandemic of 2020 through 2021, following their own passions to help and support their communities.

Besides building character and finding out what excites them in life, being a volunteer teaches youth important life skills that aren't always as easy to teach in school. They learn work ethics and gain the confidence they need to become leaders among their peers.

However, when it came to wanting to volunteer for NGO community groups they seemed to struggle to get accepted. We wanted to find out why this is.

Over many conversations with member community groups, organisations, NGOs and high schools, we heard that a minimal understanding of legislation relating to youth, recruitment and retention of young volunteers, and student safety were at the forefront of why many were often hesitant to engage youth under 18 years as volunteers. The cumulation of these many conversations and research into youth volunteering is what we are pleased to present to you today ... ‘Rangatahi te Mahi Tūao

This support guide has been created by Volunteering Auckland to help give confidence to community groups, non-profits and charitable organisations in engaging youth, aged 14-18 years, as volunteers.

It offers information, guidance and practical support to non-profit community groups wanting to know more about recruitment and retention, motivations and benefits of volunteering, legislation and other policies, that are relevant to a young person's experience of volunteering.

Whether you are new to volunteer engagement or an experienced volunteer manager, we hope that this guide will help you in creating an environment where our youth can flourish as volunteers.

Leader of Volunteer Engagement Award
Volunteering lies behind all the movements for a better world, for peace and harmony, and for a safer planet and future for our children and their children. And in the middle of those movements are people like many of you here today. You are a member of a worldwide growing profession that is leading volunteers.

We all know the addage – that volunteering doesn’t happen without someone to lead, support, or coordinate volunteers. So, a smart organisation knows that having a person responsible for volunteers ensures that volunteering is encouraged, supported and kept at the heart of the organisations mission.

This person advocates for volunteering at all levels of the organisation, making sure the right people hear the volunteering stories that are making an impact on their clients, and their services.

And what lies beneath for the recipient of this award is also authentic engagement based on not just organisational values but also personal values as well.

Welcoming, appreciative, with a good sense of where volunteers are best suited, this person ensures that volunteers are given opportunities to stretch their skills and talents into various aspects of delivery.

This person is the epitomy of leading by example by volunteering in their own community, in their own time for other organisations and projects, not just by themselves, but also as a family. Volunteering truely is at the heart of this person.

To present the 2022 Leader of Volunteer Engagement Award – Dr Mary Dawson, a long-time advocate of Volunteering Auckland, former Trustee of Volunteering Auckland, now my PA – who couldn’t ask for a better person to be by your side! – Mary was also formerly working for Auckland Council in Community Engagement and a passionate supporter for the migrant and refugee community.

The Winner of the 2022 Leader of Volunteer Engagement Award goes to:
Mahara Lawson, Kairuku Pūtere/Volunteer and Projects Coordinator for the Auckland City Mission. would you come forward Mahara?

Closing
This brings us to the end of our LoVE Awards 2022. Thank you for taking to time to come and celebrate with us. Thank you to our Award recipients, Award presenters, speakers and performers. You have all helped maked this a great event for our first back in the public realm. Thank you from our Volunteering Auckland team.

He aha te mea nui o te Āo? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata

Nō reira, tēna koutou, tēna koutou, tēna tātou katoa

Cheryll Martin QSO Kaiwhakahaere matua I General Manager, Volunteering Auckland