Volunteers are our gold

At any one-time Presbyterian Support Northern (PSN) has dozens of volunteers and community helpers giving up their time to work for us.

Across Enliven Day Services, Lifeline Aotearoa and Community Feeding Communities there are about 50 people helping on a regular basis.

They enhance the quality of the services we provide to clients and their families – they are our gold, our treasure.

This National Volunteer Week (June 15 -21) we honour their collective energies and efforts. The theme of the week - Whiria te tangata (weaving the people together), is important.

Volunteering and community support weaves us together, strengthening the fabric of our communities for a stronger, more inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand.

Take our Enliven Day Services for example. Located throughout our northern region, they have around 10 volunteers at various sites.

Enliven Day Service Volunteers Betsy Joll and Chris Osborne.

Day Services Deputy Team Leader at Onehunga Day Services, Anna Faid, says some of her volunteers have been with the organisation for up to 10 years.

Their work depends on the skills they have. One volunteer is musical and plays the ukulele for clients, which helps stimulate different areas of the brain for someone with dementia.

Other volunteers might call a game of bingo, help with puzzles, do some baking, help with trips and walks…or simply sit with a client and talk to them.

“The more hands we have, the more personalised our care is,” says Anna. We have around 16 – 20 clients per day, four days a week, with three busy support worker staff.

“Having a volunteer or two to help the support workers allows us to deliver more personalised care – we really appreciate having them, they add greatly to the quality of the service we provide. They are gold, our treasure.”

The appreciation of volunteers is felt equally at another on PSN’s services - Lifeline Aotearoa, which started out as a volunteer organisation 60 years ago.

While the service now runs a mixed model of volunteers and paid counsellors working out of Auckland and Christchurch sites, it nevertheless recognises the value volunteers bring to the service.

Lifeline Practice Lead Daniela Schon says volunteers fill gaps on the roster and help answering the never-ending queue of distressed and in-need callers.

“Having more call takers on the line means that the load on the shift is shared and all call takers can get through the calls easier.

“Volunteers bring a wide range of skills and experiences to respond and support our callers effectively. As they usually work no more than one shift per week, they come ‘fresh’ and are able to take the heavy load when call volumes are high.  They have the compassion and willingness to answer as many calls as they can during their three-hour shifts, which helps enormously.

“Furthermore, volunteers often provided a good recruitment base for the pool of paid staff.”

Another important aspect of Lifeline’s volunteers is what they do after their shift has finished.

“The experience they gain from responding to a wide range of callers from all backgrounds, enables them to take their knowledge, empathy and compassion to the wider community where they can be effective in suicide prevention and supporting people in distress,” says Daniela. “This can be in areas of their own workplace, their local community or even private lives.

“Our volunteers are amazing and very much valued by all Lifeline staff members.”

PSN’s Community Feeding Communities site is another area where volunteers and community helpers make a difference, particularly in the social food pantry (foodbank) and food garden areas.

Whether it’s organisations such as Wright Communications or regular hands that help fill food parcels, their passion and support is greatly appreciated…and it’s reciprocal.

Wright Communications Managing Director Nikki Wright says she and her team love volunteering with Communities Feeding Communities.

“Whether we’re pulling weeds in the garden, packing emergency food parcels, or helping out in the kitchen, it’s a great way for our team to support a local kaupapa focused on nourishing families and addressing food insecurity,” she says.

“It’s also been a fantastic team-bonding experience that allows us to give back to our community.”

The collective efforts of PSN volunteers are incredible. To give up one’s time to help others demonstrates not only how passionate our supporters are, but the importance of our mahi.

For this, we are forever grateful. To each and every volunteer and community helper, we say whakawhetai ki a koe mo to awhina, thank you so very much for your help.