mentoring

  Donate

Vital Volunteers

What do volunteers do

Volunteers are everyday people who give a little bit of their time to a cause that resonates with their personal values and they are worth their weight in gold!

Our Volunteers add so much to the lives of the young people here at Burdekin.

It doesn’t suit everybody to become a foster carer and volunteering might be a great alternative. Volunteers provide weekly connections to the lives of young people, many of whom have not experienced relationships with trusted adults in their lives.

Some of our valiant volunteers:

  • Volunteer Audrey visits one of our houses weekly and assists the carer by cooking the evening meal for the 3 young teens who live there. The kids often join in and the carer appreciates the adult company. We call Audrey a “house angel”.
  • Volunteers Tom and Issy are assisting two of our young people to get their drivers licence by helping them gain the 120 supervised Learner hours.
  • Volunteer Anna is helping a 17 year old who is studying to become a hairdresser.
  • Hugh is helping a young man to improve his English.
  • Sarah is providing valuable help in the office, doing an important task that takes time.
  • Georgie plays sport after school with one young girl.
  • Monique takes a young person out each Sunday and they discuss art and music.

We recognise the huge value a volunteer who is choosing to give up their time to be with a young person contributes. One young person said recently: “You mean she’s not paid to be with me? That’s cool.”

Whilst many individuals volunteer to give something back to their community, most volunteers find that they experience a number of benefits too. Volunteering has been proven to have benefits to both physical and mental health – it’s a win win!

I’m ready to volunteer – what’s next?

Read more about what it is like to become a volunteer with Burdekin and fill out an expression of interest. You might also like to read about our volunteer team and what sort of help we are looking for. We will also be running our next volunteer recruitment drive including training dates in May this year – watch this space.

We have also teamed up with Mentoring Men who provide free long-term one-to-one life mentoring programs for men Australia wide. Our partnership aims to engage male volunteers into our Volunteer Program for our young people.

Mentoring Men Volunteer Initiative

Volunteer with us

We are delighted to have entered into a partnership with Mentoring Men to engage male volunteers into our Volunteer Program for our young people. Mentoring Men is a fantastic local charity providing free long-term, one-on-one life mentoring programs Australia wide.

Volunteering

As many of you already know we are big on collaborations and community partnerships here at Burdekin – we believe that together we can make the world a better place – more so than going it alone.

Volunteers play a huge role in contributing to healthier and more resilient communities. Being a volunteer also has positive gains for the person who volunteers, not just the mentee. Being part of a community, making a difference, having fun as well as learning news skills, gaining confidence and meeting new people are all part of the overall experience.

Common goal

With a common goal of making a positive difference to people in our community our partnership with Mentoring Men makes perfect sense. By working together, by sharing our knowledge, skills and resources, we can share the responsibility for achieving this.

Gender disparity in volunteering

With this collaboration, specifically men will volunteer with us in roles like driving instructor, general maintenance, mentoring, program co-ordination, house angel and tutoring. We know that women tend to volunteer more of their time in Australia so we really welcome this wonderful opportunity.

Possible reasons why men don’t volunteer as much as women:

  • They assume it’s just for women?
  • They feel like they don’t have the skillset?
  • They feel like they don’t have time?
  • They feel like their good intentions might be misinterpreted?

Role Models

The truth is that society is crying out for male role models. Steve Biddulph, Parent Educator, Author and retired Psychologist says: “our schools are filled with kids – especially boys who are ‘under- fathered’ and at considerable risk of going off the rails as a result.”

If you would like to know more about our Volunteer Program please visit our pages: Volunteer and Skilled Volunteers and if you would like to know more about our Mentoring Men Volunteer Engagement Initiative, please contact us.

We take this opportunity to formally invite any men in our community to get in touch with us if you would like to volunteer!

Mentoring Men welcome all enquiries for men interested in becoming a Mentor, if you are interested in becoming a volunteer Mentor with Mentoring Men please take a look at what it’s all about.

We acknowledge the Aboriginal people of the Cadigal and Gayamaygal Clans. We acknowledge the Country on which we live, work, and gather as being Aboriginal land.

We acknowledge the lands, waterways and skies that are connected to Aboriginal people. We honour them and pay our deepest respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

We respect their rightful place within our communities, and we value their ancient cultural knowledge and practices.

Aboriginal Flag
Torres Straight Island Flag

We deeply respect that this will always be Aboriginal land and we will honour and follow the first peoples’ values in caring for the Country and for preserving their culture.

We deeply value that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the oldest living culture in the world and we will continue to work with their peoples and communities to ensure their cultures endure and remain strong.