We had an awesome afternoon at Culture Galore over the weekend, an amazing annual event supported by CCC. Such a variety of stands, food sites and culture performers... and the launch of our Wheel of Opportunity! Our very own Glenda was even interviewed for a livestream by PlainsFM! An awesome way to spend the day, helping those who want to make their mahi have meaning.
We received a super exciting parcel recently - our new WoO! What's that you say? Well I'm glad you asked! The Wheel of Opportunity (or WoO as we are affectionately calling it) lets you discover what volunteer opportunities are available in a fun and interactive way. This beautiful, bright wheel covers all types of volunteer opportunities across a range of categories - can you guess what each colour represents?
Special thanks to Volunteer South for sharing their unique idea, to Pukka for the awesome graphics, and to the @Wanaka Community Workshop for putting it all together!
Wow! What a year it has been for the Group Volunteering Programme! Thank you to the amazing groups who have been involved with this programme this year! 2023 has raised the bar: 66 projects undertaken, approximately 3,300 hours gifted community organisations, by 23 business groups, two special interest groups and four school groups. In November alone we have had the pleasure of working with such teams as the Christchurch Jewish Community, who volunteered at Silverstream Reserve; Christs' College students who volunteered at our very own Christchurch Community House; Forsyth Barr who volunteered at Richmond Community Garden; and Ernst & Young, Westpac and Sequent, all of whom volunteered at 0800 Hungry!
VolCan staff recently had the priviledge of attending a couple of national events. Starting in central city Wellington for a Volunteering New Zealand Leadership Hui, followed by a couple of days at a venue near the airport to catch up with teams from Volunteer Centres around Aotearoa, and finally finishing off in the garden of Volunteering New Zealand’s Chief Executive - Tumu Whakarae, Michelle Kitney, to meet with Emily who recently took up the lead role at Student Volunteer Army. It was a full few days and we are looking forward to sharing some of the learnings with community groups across our region.
This year, in conjunction with Selwyn District Council, we hosted our first ever Newcomers Volunteer Expo! We know that volunteering is a great way to meet people, make connections and gain valuable skills to help newcomers settle in. Our expo hosted a variety of Selwyn-based charity and not-for-profit groups to talk to locals about how they could join an awesome volunteer team. It was a fabulous afternoon - thanks to all who participated and made this event such a success! Special thanks to our volunteer helpers on the day - Mia, Georgia, Aisling, Lilly, Lucy, Rahil and Donia!