Volunteers are at the centre of community life

Volunteering Australia provides the latest statistics about volunteering efforts in Australia.

It’s no surprise to me to discover that in 2010:

• Slightly more women (40%) than men (37%) volunteer
• People aged 45-54 reported the highest rates of volunteering
• people in a couple relationship with dependent children ar more likely to volunteer
• young people most commonly volunteered for groups related to sport and recreation.
• And, in 2010, volunteer participation rates were higher outside capital cities – inner regional and other areas 41-42% compared to 34% for capital cities.

Volunteers are often the lifeblood of local communities, and its estimated that volunteering contributes, each year over 700 million hours of labour and $42 billion to the Australian economy.

I was a Coolamon for a BER ceremony at the Coolamon Central School – an excellent project that gave the community a wonderful facility for local events.

I read the Coolamon Shire website and discovered that Coolamon was celebrating National Volunteer Week with morning tea each day, to make sure that local volunteers could be appropriately acknowledged and thanked for their support and contribution.

I wasn’t able to get there in time for Morning tea, but did get the chance to meet the volunteer coordinator and some of the volunteers operating the community information centre.

The celebrations were focussed on affirming the contribution of volunteers to the life of Coolamon Shire and the biscuits, while yummy, were also a special thank you to the volunteers.