Formalised volunteering and its impact on the aged sector
[15 May 2007 | Alison Keene, The Centre for Volunteering]
In the last few weeks, the Volunteer Referral Service (VRS) has received two concerning phone calls. Firstly, an elderly gentleman phoned to say that his Housing Commission flat had recently been repainted, and he does not have the strength to move all his furniture back into place. He told us that he does not know his neighbours, so is unable to ask them, and his family does not live nearby. He wondered if we could send a volunteer to do this for him. After several phone calls, the VRS managed to get his local council involved.
Secondly, a woman whose sight is failing fast phoned asking if a volunteer could come and read to her occasionally. Her neighbours were all busy people, and she felt she shouldn't ask them to do such a thing. The VRS put her in contact with Vision Australia.
It was felt by the staff who dealt with these calls that the 'formalised volunteering' they were asking for, would a few years ago, have been performed by neighbours or friends in the community. The fact that neither the elderly gentleman or woman did not know who to call to get help to perform these simple and friendly favours is a sad reflection about where we are in our communities today.
Perhaps hand-in-hand with this phenomenon of 'formalised volunteering' is the growth in Corporate Social Responsibility programs now run by many corporates in Sydney. Would it be true to say that our lifestyles now mean that we rarely 'bump into' or 'pop in on' our neighbours? Instead, we are contributing to the community in a structured way through our workplaces – and therefore not necessarily in our own local area.
The Centre would value your thoughts on the above issue – if indeed it is an issue. What does it mean for NFPs in the aged care sector, for example, and how can we ensure that vulnerable individuals in the community can access local help without having to search 'V' for Volunteering in the phone book?
Email your comments to Kristin Romanis. Comments will be published in the next issue of The Voice of Volunteering.