Whanganui public figures will be working with various volunteer services across the city. Photo / Bevan Conley
Volunteer numbers have bounced back since the Covid-19 lockdowns as people look to reconnect and be part of a community.
Volunteer Week NZ begins on Monday.
Whanganui boasts 1306 active volunteers in 64 active roles, while Volunteer Whanganui supports 99 organisations.
“We have had a lot more who have decided to volunteer because it’s given them something to do,” Volunteer Whanganui manager Sandra Rickey said.
Rickey said Whanganui was a community-oriented place.
“You’ve got your retired people and then you’ve got your families and I think they just think it’s really important.
“It’s important to connect, it’s important to get involved.”
Volunteer Week is an annual campaign run by Volunteering New Zealand with the aim of recognising and celebrating people who volunteer their time and expertise to support communities.
In Whanganui, a group of eight Whanganui public figures will join the more than 1000 volunteer workers around the city for a few hours helping out with Meals On Wheels, Creative Space, Community Patrol, the Whanganui East Hospice Shop, Kai Hub, Zest, the Foodbank and Hospice Whanganui.
“We’ve got all sorts of people doing all sorts of things really,” she said.
The people taking part are Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe, Whanganui MP Steph Lewis, deputy mayor Helen Craig, district councillor Jenny Duncan, Whanganui Regional Health Network CEO Jude MacDonald, disability rights activist Sir Robert Martin, Community Legal Advice Whanganui manager Sandra Terewi and radio announcer Sue Miller.
This initiative started in 2015 when Rickey challenged Whanganui figures who didn’t usually take up volunteer work to try it out for a day.
She said the challenge served as a great advertisement for Volunteer Whanganui, the week and the services taking part as well as getting people not normally associated with community work out and about.
Many volunteers also registered for multiple roles in the community.
“They’re not interested in one, they’re interested in four or five, so that’s really good.”
She said after the 2015 floods many people learned the importance of putting their hands up and chipping in to help each other, which lives on to this day.
“I think Whanganui is just a really good place to live in, it’s very community minded... communities are run by organisations and organisations need volunteers,” she said.
Rickey said volunteers were the backbone of any community.
If anyone was interested in taking up volunteering she said to get in touch with Volunteer Whanganui.
“The best thing with us is we’re completely hands-on, we register, refer, we follow the volunteer story from start to finish.”
Volunteer Whanganui is located in Community House, 60 Ridgway St, and open from 9am to 4pm, Mondays to Thursdays.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.