Dear Editor,
It’s almost Australia day again, where we celebrate what’s great about Australia and being Australian. It got me thinking about what that actually means. I hear the same things every year, that we’re a multicultural society, are tolerant and inclusive, wealthy, sunburnt, we give people a ‘fair go’ and many other things. I rarely hear that we are a charitable country that gives generously with both time and money. That has to change.
Australia for the past three years has consistently ranked as the top county in terms of charitable giving. This includes volunteering and money donations. Research from Just Giving released late last year found that “57 per cent of Australians agree that when they help others or donate to charity they feel more inspired and positive”. Australians are charitable and this needs to be recognised as part of our national identity.
Volunteering is an essential part of almost every charitable organisation and Youth Off The Streets is no different. In the 2012/2013 financial year, we had 478 active individual volunteers. This frontline workforce was the main reason we were able to offer so many services to disadvantaged young people. This represents an enormous value to our organisation and is something that we couldn’t just replace with financial donations. I can only speculate as to the amount of joy volunteers get from the experience, but through hearing their stories I’ve identified the following benefits: a sense of achievement; having new experiences, meeting a diverse range of people, connecting with the community and assisting the marginalised in society.
The joy I feel every time a new volunteer signs up is immeasurable. They provide so much value to our organisation and they don’t ask for a thing in return. The best part is seeing our young people improve; through the hard work and effort of our volunteers. We did our best to try and estimate the value they bring to the organisation in our Annual Report.
During the 2012/2013 financial year, volunteers donated $2.5m worth of their time, based on average time earnings*. Our Food Van volunteers have prepared, cooked and served over 10,000 meals to the homeless community in the Darlinghurst area. Our volunteer cooks at Don Bosco Home have contributed over 2000 meals for the residents at the crisis refuge. I’m always overwhelmed when recalling the above statistics and it’s hard to put into words what it means to Youth Off The Streets.
We’re always in need of more volunteers, especially as we begin to expand our Outreach Services. We’re now about to operate in three states New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. If you’d like to find out more about volunteering with Youth Off The Streets, call 02 9330 3500 or visit www.youthoffthestreets.com.au/volunteer.
Yours Faithfully,
Father Chris Riley
Chief Executive Officer
Youth Off The Streets Ltd
*Based on ABS May 2013 estimate of private sector average adult ordinary time earnings.
