As National Volunteer Week gets under way, Connecting Up is thinking of the first 15,000 reasons why we’re grateful for our amazing volunteers.

The number 15,000 is significant because that is the huge number of vital community service listings that wouldn’t be available and up to date for the South Australian Community without our team.

Every day at Connecting Up we are privileged to have volunteers dedicate their time to searching through listings, contacting organisations for the most up-to-date information and adding it to our directory so that the broader community can confidently access the services they need.

But those 15,000 reasons are just the start of why we’re grateful to our volunteers, who come from all over the world, bringing humour, friendliness and culture to our working environment every day.

The team includes SACommunity stalwarts like Erin, who has been a volunteer at Connecting Up for two and a half years.

A graduate of TAFE SA, who is studying certificates in Business Administration, also specialising in Health/Medical Administration and Accounts/Bookkeeping Administration, Erin brings her skills in video editing and video product to the team, creating e-learning training modules for SACommunity.

“Before volunteering at Connecting Up I didn’t know much about volunteering or how to go about it, but since then I’ve learnt a variety of different skills that can be applied to many different fields of work, and I’ve developed other skills that I didn’t possess before,” says Erin.

She says that the experience at Connecting Up has been really valuable, and would recommend volunteering to all kinds of people.

“I feel like this kind of experience can apply to all kinds of people, not necessarily just those in an administrative role,” she says. “This includes people who are looking to improve and develop their workplace skills and knowledge, who want to look at working with others, and to build relationships and gain confidence in communicating with others whether in person or over the phone.”

Then there is Nirupama, who has a post-graduate diploma in Information Systems and Project Management and wants to pursue a career in the not-for-profit sector in Australia.

“I am undertaking volunteer work at Connecting Up to learn more about the local culture and the community sector, improve my career development, and guide me to paid employment opportunities,” says Nirupama.

“I'm engaging in customer inquiries and verifying and editing content on the SAcommunity directory. Not only that but the staff and my fellow volunteers support me to complete my practical delivery sessions of training and assessment to a great extent.

“Meanwhile, I’m undertaking Training and Assessment Certificate IV as well to get a sound knowledge of the Australian vocational education and training sector.”

Nirupama says that working as a volunteer has benefits that go beyond skills development.

“Working as a volunteer has always been rewarding,” she says. “Not only can you give something back to the community, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the role and the opportunities it presented to me.”

We also want to thank our newer volunteers, like Volunteer Information Officer Audrey, who joined the team just two weeks before the COVID-19 restrictions came into place, and in spite of that has continued to contribute to the SACommunity Directory.

“Although short, my time as a Volunteer with Connecting Up has been unusual, with social-distancing practises and self-quarantine being imposed only two weeks after I first began,” says Audrey.

“I was initially worried; how could I continue in my position? Yet Zoom meetings were organised, online workspaces formatted, and resources made digital, our Volunteer Coordinator introducing remote volunteering in just a matter of days.

“Since then I’ve found respite and routine in our weekly online meetings and the tasks I undertake at home. I’ve found myself able to provide assistance to our community even in these uncertain times, able to assure myself that I’m making the most of my time by helping others.”

As part of Connecting Up’s National Volunteer Week celebration, we’ll be finding out more about some of our other volunteers later in the week.

We have so many incredible volunteers at Connecting Up, including Stathis, Sam A, Malcolm and Cheryl, who between them have given hundreds of hours of their time to support Connecting Up over the years, and one of our other new volunteers Sam W, who along with Audrey has joined us as a key article writer.

We’re also grateful to volunteers Edward, David and Alexander - and to our partners in South Australia, who make an immense contribution to the opportunities available to our volunteers by working with us to match them with enjoyable, productive and career enhancing opportunities.

Those partners will include City of Prospect and City of Tea Tree Gully who worked with Connecting Up on joint volunteer partnership programs to maintain their local community service information with four SAcommunity volunteers Stathis, Rex, Flavia and Sam A.

Thank you once again to the volunteers mentioned in this article - and also to those volunteers who we haven’t named. Without your work, so much of what we do wouldn’t be possible.  

Follow the link to find out more about our SAcommunity service and volunteering at Connecting Up.