Our Outreach Manager, Glenda, had the pleasure of meeting with Roz from Edible Canterbury at Otakaro Orchard in the centre of the city recently. A 30 year agreement is in place for this site for the creation of a kai orchard in the central city. As well as the orchard, which utilises permaculture, there is a sustainable building currently under construction which will provide facilities for workshops, education … and a café! The building will have a ‘blue green roof’ which means that it will be planted (that’s the ‘green’ part) and also utilise rainwater for irrigation, so not impacting on stormwater (that’s the ‘blue’ part). Edible Canterbury is one of our amazing community organisations which hosts groups through Volunteering Canterbury’s Group Volunteering programme – a great way for groups from businesses, youth and faith-based groups, special interest groups to lend a hand to ‘make a difference’ in their community.
On 18 February we were thrilled to once again participate in the Christchurch Culture Galore festival! It was fantastic to see such a huge turnout of locals enjoying the entertainment and food, and soaking up the fabulous range of cultures that make up our city. At our stand, Glenda and Tammy were able to talk to a steady stream of people interested in finding out more about engaging in volunteering, and as always we offered free rock painting for the young and young at heart! #VolunteeringRocks!
This year a group of approximately 100 students arrived to start their tertiary study at the University of Canterbury through the He Tetekura Emerging Leaders programme. He Tetekura students have already exhibited a range of community involvement during high school and the He Tetekura Welcome Wananga Service Expo provided an opportunity to inspire and empower these students to make service leadership and community involvement a priority in their first year of study.
Our annual team planning day took place at Te Ara Ātea this year! We spent several productive hours, beavering away in preparation for 2023 - training workshops, expos, events, campaigns and so much more! And we’re feeling pretty excited about all that is on the horizon 🎉
On 17th and 18th October, some of our team attended the Volunteer Centre Network Association (VCNA) Hui, held at Wellington Zoo. The "Hui at the Zoo-i", as it became affectionately known, was the first face-to-face meeting with our Volunteer Centre colleagues in quite some time! In amongst the fun, there was plenty of getting to business, with teaching and collaboration between representatives from the multiple Volunteer Centres across the country. Thank you to everyone who was involved in organising, and all those who came along and participated. In particular we acknowledge funding from DIA which enabled us to hold this worthwhile two-day event.