The unpaid who help out others

To celebrate Volunteer Awareness Week, I spent some time with Age Concern in Hamilton.

They have 360 volunteers spread throughout the Waikato… [they were]  providing a shopping service for them. During the visits, volunteers often discover needs that the older person has that would not have been identified otherwise.

While they are providing some valuable company and social interaction for their host, they are also discovering that their steps are slippery and need water-blasting or that they haven't been eating properly.

With the person's permission, they can relay this information to Age Concern who will contact the appropriate agency, talk to their family or call in appropriate volunteers through other organisations like Volunteering Waikato.

And then there's the enjoyment, skills, confidence and satisfaction that the volunteers themselves gain from the exercise…

The use of volunteers allows Age Concern to support almost 37,000 older Waikato people through services, education, training and information with just eight paid staff.

So the rest of us should be grateful to those volunteers – they are the unsung heroes in our community….

> SOURCE  Waikato Times Last updated 12:00 23/06/2010 Share