Hail our priceless volunteers

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

There are 116 not-for-profit organisations listed with Volunteer Whanganui.

That's a substantial number of local people working in the voluntary sector - and, of course, there are those groups not listed with Volunteer Whanganui to factor in.

The bottom line is this: there's an awful lot of folk doing an awful lot of very good and important work - not for a pay packet, but simply to help others.

You won't have heard of many of them. They are usually humble types for whom the satisfaction of helping someone out is reward enough.

Our volunteer sector is part of the glue that holds society together. Without it, things would fall apart.

But these organisations face a constant battle to keep going - members move on or get too old; funding gets cut and it gets harder to find the money for their enterprises.

So when Whanganui Volunteer Centre manager Sandra Rickey decided to hold an "I Dare You" campaign around Volunteer Managers Day on Wednesday in an effort to get more people involved in volunteering, the Chronicle was keen to get on board.

Six of our reporting team put their hands up to do a bit of extra-curricular work in the community. It is a small, drop-in-the-ocean contribution ... but every little helps.

And their stories over the course of this week - starting today on page 8 - will highlight the amazing work these groups do. And, hopefully, encourage a few more people to roll up their sleeves and get involved. They will find it an extremely worthwhile experience - just as our reporters did.

Ms Rickey supplied this quote:

"Volunteers are unpaid not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless."