Sustainable Snippet: Whanganui Environment Base needs help

Sustainable Whanganui volunteers (from left) Peter Watson, Jill Hobbs and Robin Williamson at the Plastic Free July stall at the Whanganui River Markets on July 4. Photo / Supplied

Do you have a spare hour or two to offer an organisation aligned with your values?

Are you thinking about doing something to help the environment, but don't know where to start?

Try the Whanganui Environment Base (WhEB).

Occasionally the WhEB is closed because nobody can cover for a WhEBster (regular volunteer) who is sick or on holiday or has an appointment.

Since lockdown ended, we've been short of vollies for various reasons, so the existing WhEBsters have had to do extra shifts.

Full training is given. Trainees work alongside an experienced volunteer until they know the ropes and are confident they can manage three hours on their own. Our volunteers aren't expected to be experts and know everything. We often ask one another or do a bit of research to find answers to visitors' questions.

We'd love our new trainees to feel a connection to the work and visitors. Our kaupapa is "conscious local action towards a sustainable future for the Earth". If this resonates with you, there's a good chance you'll get a lot out of signing up.

Volunteering is a way to connect with community. Along the way, we learn new skills and increase our knowledge of our world.

People sometimes volunteer as a step to employment. They gain valuable work experience that employers are looking for. The people with whom we volunteer can act as referees.

Sustainable Whanganui volunteers fill many roles: collating statistics for funding applications, sorting and displaying materials donated to the ReUse Academy at the WhEB, taking minutes at our meetings, looking after our little herb and edible weed garden, moving unwanted stuff to op shops, helping with Fruit Trees in Schools, tutoring at holiday workshops, assisting with the three-monthly Morgan Beach clean-up (known as The Litter Project) in conjunction with Sustainable Coastlines and DoC, giving out plants and seeds at the Christmas Parade in December.

Pot-luck dinners are held several times a year in a WhEBster's home. We celebrate our successes often.

Please contact us if you can offer a couple of hours a week and you like our kaupapa. Phone 06 345 6000, 0274 481 581 or email sustainablewhanganui@gmail.com