Volunteer Awareness Week 2012

Volunteer Awareness Week 2012 marks New Zealand’s largest celebration of volunteers, volunteerism, and civic participation.

Volunteerism contributes to the world in so many ways, and shapes much in our lives.

Volunteers are creating positive change on many fronts – community health care, sports and recreation, heritage and arts, environmental protection and advocacy, disaster relief, international development, and volunteer fire fighting – the list is endless. The work of volunteers is essential to building resilient communities at home, and around the world.
The need to support and get involved in volunteering is important for basic civil society to function – from ‘grass-roots’ volunteering to online volunteering. As a nation we can build community connections through helping out in our communities – we’ve seen it happen across the country in recent months; from Tauranga oil spills, to the Rugby World Cup, to supporting our friends in Christchurch.

Think of communities as widely as possible - local regions, interest groups, online networks, people with similar or shared values. It’s about putting your communities and energy into action, and getting the impact we need to ensure all the communities of Aotearoa/NZ thrive.

Volunteers are the backbone of our society. Supporting volunteerism and getting involved means we need everyone to be an active citizen and support their communities for greater outcomes and better lifestyles.

Get involved through your local Volunteer Centre ...