New free festival announced to celebrate Bay of Plenty volunteers

Volunteering Bay of Plenty general manager Helen Stewart. Photo / Supplied

A new free festival celebrating the significant contribution volunteers make to the community will be held at the Historic Village this year.

Volfest is being organised by Volunteering Bay of Plenty to showcase all of the opportunities that exist in the volunteer sector on November 9.

General manager Helen Stewart said the free event would show people different ways they could give back, learn new skills and connect with organisations they may not have thought about volunteering with before.

"Volunteering comes in many different forms... The options are endless," Stewart said.

Stewart said the plan was to build on the festival each year so it became a significant event.

"We'll have lots of music, opportunities to upskill and entertainment so people are welcome to get in touch if they'd like to be involved," she said.

Volunteering Bay of Plenty has received a grant of $105,000 from BayTrust for the next three years.

The money will be used to cover operational expenses including the inaugural Volfest and the establishment of new Volunteering Bay of Plenty satellite centres in the region, plus a website and database upgrade.

Stewart said it was great to have the certainty of funding over three years.

"We wouldn't survive without our funders and their enthusiasm for what we do," she said.

The nature of volunteering had changed in the last decade as people became increasingly time-poor, Stewart said.

Micro-volunteering was now common as people contributed their skills to short-term or one-off projects, as well as corporate volunteering, she said.

Volunteering Bay of Plenty hoped to develop an app to connect people who wished to volunteer with organisations who needed help.

"There are more and more people wanting to give back," Stewart said.

"People just want to get together to make a difference in their community, whether it is putting in children's swings in a playground, building a bridge, planting an area on an island or raising money."

BayTrust chief executive Alastair Rhodes said government figures showed 1.2 million New Zealanders volunteered in some capacity.

"Our community literally wouldn't function without volunteers so the work Volunteering Bay of Plenty does to help support and strengthen our local network is invaluable," Rhodes said.

"We love the idea of Volfest and celebrating the role that volunteers play in all our lives."