Lend a hand: Volunteering is yet to make its Covid-19 comeback

Volunteering rates have plummeted since the pandemic began. As Australia makes its Covid comeback, the quest is on to reinvigorate volunteering. Here’s how you can help.

While recent times have seen an outpouring of community engagement and willingness to help informally – whether by fetching groceries for a neighbour, or gathering supplies for flood affected communities – many organisations are struggling to find helping hands for ongoing volunteer roles.

Covid-19 has led to a shortage of volunteers, but no shortage of empathy, according to Volunteering Australia CEO Mark Pearce.

“There has been a reticence to reconnect with volunteer programs,” says Pearce, adding that volunteer rates dropped from a pre-pandemic rate of 36 per cent of the adult population to 24 per cent last year, despite the easing of restrictions

“Time is a vacuum – when it’s not being taken by volunteering, it gets taken by other things, and people don’t always feel they have time to fit it in again.”

Helping hands: Covid-19 brought on a surge of community spirit, but many are reluctant to engage with formal volunteering programs.

This comes on the back of a gradual decline in volunteering over the past decade, with a quarter of volunteer-involving organisations finding that volunteers are more time-poor and harder to engage, according to a recent Volunteering Australia survey.

But Pearce says volunteering is something worth working into our schedule, and the time sacrifice pays back richly, both for the recipients of the help, and the volunteers themselves. Here are some of the reasons to add volunteering to your to-do list.

Connect with a passion

Our paid work may be based on what we need to do to earn a living, but volunteer roles can tap into our interests and passions. “It’s something that puts a smile on your face and makes your heart beat faster,” says Pearce.

Whether that passion is sport, the arts or the environment, there are many innovative ways to translate interests and skills into something that adds to the greater good. Online search platforms, such as SEEK Volunteer and GoVolunteer enable you to search via keywords of interest, while neighbourhood clubs and associations are often keen to accept assistance.

Busy lifestyles have contributed to a gradual decline in volunteering over the past decade. Photo: istock.

“Spend five minutes looking, and you’ll come up with a veritable plethora of opportunities – you’ll be surprised by the things you can do, and the difference you can make to people’s lives,” Pearce says.

“Often, you’ll develop really useful skills, and it may even become a pathway to paid employment.”

Towards a better future is proudly supported by Coles.

There’s always time

Volunteering doesn’t necessarily require putting in hours at a soup kitchen. It may simply mean finding ways to help out within your regular routine. For example, rather than sitting on the sidelines during kids’ sport, you could help with marshalling, setting up or coaching. Switching the occasional daily walk for a weed-pulling session could provide valuable assistance to a bush care group, or you could make a call to check in on someone vulnerable as a Telecross volunteer during your daily commute.

“There are preconceptions about what volunteering is, but volunteering happens everywhere,” Pearce says.

Volunteering in a soup kitchen is just one of many was to lend a hand.

Thriving communities

For Heather Mitchell, returning to serve as a Little Athletics volunteer post-lockdown was never a question. Recently inducted into the Coles Little Athletics Hall of Fame after 25 years of service to the children’s sporting program, Mitchell says volunteering has enriched her life and been the foundation for lifelong friendships.

Little Athletics volunteer Heather Mitchell, was recently inducted to the Coles Little Athletics Hall of Fame after 25 years of service to the children's sporting program.

“I get satisfaction from helping others, and seeing children I knew when they were six still there when they’re 16,” she says. Having started as a volunteer when her four children were growing up, Mitchell now enjoys seeing her grandchildren compete up-close when she’s on duty. “Many of my greatest friendships have come through athletics,” she says. “It has been a big part of my life.” According to Pearce, becoming a volunteer empowers us to help create our ideal community: “It’s a profound aspirational statement about the life we want to live, the community in which we live, and how it can be more inclusive and engaging”.

A sense of purpose

There’s weighty evidence to suggest that volunteering improves psychological wellbeing, self-esteem, happiness and life satisfaction. This was highlighted during lockdown periods, with research from the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods finding that people who continued volunteering after the initial outbreak experienced a significantly lower loss of life satisfaction than those who stopped volunteering. For Heather Mitchell, the benefits continue to multiply: “If you sit around all day, you get old,” she says. “I’d much rather be out there doing things, meeting people and imparting knowledge.”

Originally published as Lend a hand: Volunteering is yet to make its Covid-19 comeback