March to honour volunteers

CELEBRATING VOLUNTEERS: Wairarapa Community Centre volunteers Vanessa Jibran (left) and Emma Pike (right) lead the march down Queen Street, Masterton. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Dozens of volunteers took part in the first ever International Volunteer Day march in Masterton yesterday.

The co-ordinator of the recently established Wairarapa Volunteer Centre, Jo Dean, said the day was about celebrating volunteers everywhere around the world.

"There's over a billion world-wide and a quarter of New Zealanders are volunteers."

She said she couldn't estimate how many people volunteered in Wairarapa but she knew some organisations had more than 100 volunteers.

"If you think of all the not-for-profit organisations here in Wairarapa, the majority are made up of volunteers."

There's also unpaid work, like parents helping out at school events, that also counts, she said.

Speaking at the Frank Cody Lounge after the march up Queen St, Wairarapa Community Centre trust chairman Gary Caffell thanked the volunteers for their hard work.

He said there were 13 to 14 organisations at the community centre providing services that operated with the help of volunteers and that the centre was concerned central government seemed to be giving less funding to community organisations.

"The government needs to realise without volunteers, organisations that are doing a lot of good for people who are disadvantaged, can't exist."

Masterton Mayor Lyn Patterson also gave thanks.

"Without you and all the volunteer work you do, the community would be a lot poorer for it."

It is thought volunteer work saves the New Zealand economy $3.3 billion a year.