Volunteer Life, Issue no 2, March 2006
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Are you looking for a new volunteering opportunity? Just call 02 9261 3600 to apply for one of these or many other roles: - Minute Secretary Browse all of the volunteer jobs listed in our database or search GoVolunteer or
Seek for
a suitable volunteer role. |
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Are you interested in event volunteering? We need volunteers for the following major events: Red Cross Calling Star Day Saturday Morning Bowling at Dee Why For more information on these and other events and for application details, visit the Upcoming Events page on our website. |
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Why not forward friends this issue of Volunteer Life today. |
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Volunteer Life e-zine celebrates and showcases volunteering. Subscribe today and get it delivered free to your inbox quarterly! |
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Have you had an interesting experience volunteering? Have you travelled overseas or interstate especially to volunteer? Email us your story for inclusion in Volunteer Life info@volunteering.com.au |
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Welcome to Volunteer Life, your quarterly lifestyle e-zine from The Centre for Volunteering, celebrating and showcasing volunteering.
Cheers
for Nicole Kidman: Volunteer, superstar and UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador
to build peace
By Belle Hann
Nicole
Kidman has a confession to make. On being appointed Goodwill Ambassador
for UNIFEM, she admitted: "I don't pretend to be an expert on the
issues UNIFEM addresses".
Perhaps you, as a volunteer, can understand. You may feel overwhelmed
with complicated statistics and data when faced with issues and causes.
Despite this you, like Nicole, commit your time and energy to helping
what Nicole calls 'the very real and immediate problems' existing in our
communities and our world. MORE
Fighting
fire with ... education
By
Vanessa McQuarrie
Everyone remembers the bushfires that ravaged greater Sydney in the
summer of 1994. Footage of the devastation was beamed across the world,
while Sydneysiders watched the skyline turn red. Tragically, lives were
lost and homes destroyed.
When fires hit in 2001, 2002 and again in 2003, people living in bushfire-prone areas were prepared thanks to the NSW Fire Brigade's Community Fire Unit (CFU) program. MORE
By Lisa Saremel
Call
for compulsory community service for school students
A proposal by the youth wing of the ALP to introduce compulsory community
service for high school students has received a mixed reaction from state
and federal ALP members and other groups. MORE
Searching
for stardust, at home
Volunteers with Internet access are about to embark on a search for interstellar
particles, or stardust, the first sample of its kind to be brought back to earth. MORE
Who
volunteers?
An international discussion about the abilities of affluent and less
privileged people to participate in volunteering projects has raised
debate about the nature of volunteering. MORE
Commonwealth
Games volunteer army
There are just 14 days to go to the Opening Ceremony of the Melbourne
Commonwealth Games and the Games' volunteer army is well on track and
it is 'business
as usual' for the team. MORE
The
Body Shop's 4,500 volunteer hours
By Belle Hann
The Body Shop's bold approach to skin care and social activism has earned them loyal customers and now there is one more reason to love them. And no, it's not another wonderful new body butter. It's the 4,500 volunteer hours they performed last year.
"Community Projects", The Body Shop's volunteering program, commits every
staff member to 16 hours volunteer activity. MORE
OzHarvest,
Sydney's first 'food rescue' charity
By Lisa Saremel
Having
worked in the events industry for 20 years, Ronni Kahn has seen all
too often the waste of thousands of good meals, often left over from
corporate functions and similar events, while the city's homeless have
gone hungry.
"When I could, I would personally drop off some food at Matthew Talbot,
but 99% of the time the food was going to waste," she explains. MORE
Protecting
turtle eggs in Costa Rica
By Vanessa McQuarrie
When Toni Hazel arrived in her destination of Cahuita, Costa Rica, she wondered what she'd gotten herself into. "We were about three or four kilometres from the nearest road," she explained.
"There was no refrigeration,
only generated electricity at night, no hot water." Then there were
highly venomous snakes … oh, dear! MORE
Q&A:
Volunteers and tax
By The Centre for Volunteering
Every month, volunteers ask us questions about volunteering such as where can I volunteer, how many hours a week can I volunteer and what do I need to know about tax as a volunteer?
We answer the most common of these questions on www.volunteering.com.au but have decided take a more in-depth look at some of your questions in our new Volunteer Life Q&A section. In this issue, we look at volunteers and tax. MORE
Anonymous
donor gives $10,000
The Centre for Volunteering has recently received a generous $10,000
donation from a member of the Sydney Rotary Club who wishes to remain
anonymous. We are very thankful for the donation. If you would like to
make a donation or bequest to The Centre for Volunteering, please email
info@volunteering.com.au
First
NSW-based legal resource for volunteers and voluntary organisations
Not-for-profit organisations in NSW working with volunteers frequently
have questions about the legal rights and responsibilities of their
volunteers. Many are unaware of what to do or how to proceed in situations
such as negotiating insurance and occupational health and safety requirements
such as what to do when volunteers are involved in an accident. MORE
New
membership program
We are always looking at ways to improve the services we provide and
are pleased to announce some major changes and improvements to our
membership.
One of our key goals has been to reduce the cost of membership and to encourage more individuals, not-for-profit organisations and corporates to become members of The Centre for Volunteering, the Peak Body for Volunteering in NSW. MORE
New
pricing structure for SVM's Accredited Courses
The School of Volunteer Management is now offering even better value.
We have re-structured our pricing to promote and support volunteering
so that even more people can benefit from our Accredited Training Courses.
The courses now represent an un-missable opportunity for your personal
development. MORE
Volunteer
Coordinator on leave
Claudiene Duarte, The Centre for Volunteering's
Volunteer Coordinator, will be on leave from Friday, 10 March to
Tuesday, 18 April. Melissa
Ehrhardt will be our Volunteer Coordinator during this time and can
be contacted by calling 02 9261 3600.
Previously Melissa has worked for a range of community organisations
including the Peace Corps in Romania and more recently as a volunteer
coordinator in the Eastern Suburbs. Melissa also helped us judge
the NAB awards late last year.
National
Volunteer Week, 15-21 May 2006
National Volunteer Week is just around the corner and, with the theme
Change your world… start now, it's the perfect time for you to
enquire or start volunteering or, for those of you already volunteering,
to celebrate changing your world through volunteering.
Events
Calendar
Visit our Events
Calendar to keep informed about events across the state
and how you can get involved.