Opening Up To Skilled Volunteers

Opening Up to Skilled Volunteers

2nd December 2011

Community members, University and TAFE students have been using their skills to benefit Interchange Outer East in new ways over the past few months.

Volunteers being matched one to one with a child with a disability on recreation programs and volunteers sharing their homes with children at regular intervals through the Host Program are certainly not new to Interchange - they have always been at the core of our service.

But there is a new direction in volunteering that has started to flourish within Interchange, and that is taking on skilled volunteers to work in areas of their choosing and that are of benefit to our agency.

Most recently, two Event and Management Diploma students from Holmesglen TAFE spent one day a week for ten weeks from August to November with Interchange developing an Operational Plan for agency wide events. This document includes the history and important information of IOE events such as Sports Week, Conference, AGM, Christmas Party and the annual social fundraiser.

Holmesglen TAFE students Lyn Sargent and Emma Louis said, "Thank you for the opportunity to work with you at Interchange Outer East. It became a very practical way to consolidate our learning."  For more of Lyn and Emma’s perspective click here.

We also had Monash University medical students volunteering on Balance with young adults - see accompanying photo - and student Marcus had this to say, “My experience with the inspirational staff, families, and service users, who I was fortunate enough to have met at IOE, has given me an enlightening insight into the many challenges surrounding disability in health care.  I am confident that lessons I have learned at IOE will make me a more considerate and compassionate medical professional.”

Interchange Outer East also welcomes Toni Nelson to the office team currently working one day a week on data entry, drafting articles and increasing that to two days a week to become Co-Editor of the Interchange published Bayswater Buzz community newspaper in 2012.

These are some great examples of how Interchange Outer East is successfully starting to introduce skilled volunteers to different areas of the agency.

If you are interested in using your skills to contribute to a community based non profit organisation, why not consider Interchange Outer East?

For more information on volunteering check out the volunteer page on this website and/or contact us via email kimberley.hannett@ioe.org.au or phone 9758 5522.

by Rebecca Gallaher