Facts

It’s a great idea to help out other kids.

At school, you can help by doing the banking, becoming a School Patrol warden (for pedestrian crossings) or becoming a Peer Mediator.

After school, there are lots of community groups you can join, that help people – Brownies, Scouts, Guides and some dance troupes, just to name a few !

Other kids will really appreciate your support and best of all… it feels great helping other kids.

We’ve all heard the saying..."it's better to give than to receive", haven’t we?  Think about it for a moment. What does it mean to you?

There is no doubt getting or giving a present is nice.  But sometimes the smallest gift we give is the one that is enjoyed the most. The gift of our time is can be really appreciated. Like as a volunteer – when you give your time/talents to help a good cause.  

There are a lot of different ways you can volunteer so you can usually find something to do that you have an interest in like:

Animal shelters are always looking for volunteers to walk pets, and help clean and care for them

You and your family/class can organise a cleanup program in your neighbourhood

You and your family/class can donate used toys and books to libraries, shelters or churches

You can volunteer to tutor or help students struggling at your school

You and your family/class can offer to help an elderly neighbour tidy their garden

Help your mum, dad or caregiver around the house they will LOVE the thought

Do you know

Every single weekend over 500,000 New Zealanders volunteer to do things like coaching, band practice ...without them there wouldn’t be ANY sports at the weekend for kids
 
Each year these people volunteer over 270 million hours helping others

If you put a cost on how much the time and effort the volunteers in give to other people it would be over $3 BILLION dollars (wow!)

2001 was the year of the volunteer. This year the week of the Volunteer is 15-21st of June 2008

More than 9,000 volunteer urban and rural fire fighters provide fire prevention and emergency services to 80% of New Zealand

Last summer, 3,500 surf lifesaving volunteers gave up their free time to keep our beaches safe, performing over 100,000 preventative actions and clocking up a massive 169,811 patrol hours

The average young person (aged 12-24 yrs) does over 70 hours of unpaid work outside the home a year. With more than 700,000 young people in that is more than 49 million hours a year

Visit www.volunteeringnz.org.nz to find out more about activities planned to celebrate Volunteer Awareness Week or www.volunteernow.org.nz to see volunteering opportunities available.