Our parks are beautiful places to visit and enjoy, however this doesn't just happen without the help of volunteers. An email came my way that provides plenty of opportunities for people to either get their hands dirty and help in the parks or in the office to help. So, if you live in Victoria, and have the time to help out, give them a call or an email. If you are living elsewhere, check out what is happening with your people and parks to see how you can help out.
Start of email from People & Parks Foundation:
Victorian People & Parks Foundation Volunteer Help Needed
Field Day VolunteeringIf you would like to assist out in the field, we have the following events running. You don’t need any specific experience, just a happy disposition an interest in conservation and wiliness to pitch in.
This is a great opportunity if you wish to gain experience in community environmental work. A free Working with Children Certificate can be obtained for volunteers.
Please let me know which of the following days you are available:
WED OCTOBER 7 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group Royal Park (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED OCTOBER 14 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group Blackburn Lake Sanctuary (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED OCTOBER 21 RETREAT ASSISTANCE Corporate Volunteers Caitlin’s Retreat, Eltham (9:15am – 3:00pm)
FRI OCTOBER 23 GREEN CONNECTIONS Corporate Volunteers Albert Park (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED OCTOBER 28 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group TBC (Eastern Suburbs) (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED NOVEMBER 4 GREEN CONNECTIONS School group Blackburn Lake Sanctuary (9:15am – 3:00pm)
WED NOVEMBER 11 SEA SEARCH School group Ricketts Point, Beaumaris (1:30pm to 4:30pm)
THUR NOVEMBER 12 RETREAT ASSISTANCE Corporate Volunteers Caitlin’s Retreat, Eltham (2pm – 4pm)
TUE NOVEMBER 17 GREEN CONNECTIONS Corporate Volunteers Werribee (9:15am – 3:00pm)
* Green Connections days consist of working in the environment with revegetation, planting, clear up etc
* Sea Search days consist of intertidal marine monitoring
* Retreat Assistance days are held at our retreat centre for special needs children and involve activities to improve the property
Email greenconnection@peopleandparks.org if interested
Friends of Caitlin's Retreat Volunteers
We are starting a Friends of Caitlin's Retreat for those that are interested in helping out on the Eltham property. Roles can include hands on assistance in the grounds, permaculture gardening, helping create programs for special needs children, networking with the local community and many other activities. The group will meet once a month at the Retreat Centre in Eltham. It is envisaged that this will be a working bee day for those that can participate and a general meeting. You can just attend the meeting, it is not necessary to assist in the working bee.
We are deciding whether the meeting will be held on a weekday or a weekend. If you are interested in being involved specifically in the Friends of Caitlin's Retreat please let me know your preference by emailing volunteer@peopleandparks.org
Office VolunteersDo you have a day or two spare and would like to volunteer? We have the following skilled activities that require volunteer assistance.
Event Calendar Creator Volunteer needed for 1 day to conduct internet research and put together forward calendar of environmental events that People & Parks Foundation can participate in.
Park Database Creator Volunteer needed for 2 days compile information on Victorian parks and community groups including maps, photos and contact details for future volunteer projects.
Graphic Design Brochure Volunteer needed for 1 day to create brochures for volunteering days.
Writer / Marketing Volunteer needed for 1 -2 days to write copy for corporate and school volunteering programs.
Survey writer Volunteer needed for 1 day to write survey questions for volunteer groups
eLearning Creator Volunteer needed for 2 days to create induction PowerPoint for volunteers. Option to evaluate interactive elearning opportunities if interested
Data preparation We are transferring to a new CRM system(salesforce) and would like 1 days assistance in preparing and cleaning our data for this
If you are interested in any of the above activities, our preference is for volunteers to help on one or more of the following weekday dates during business hours.
October 9, 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 29 or November 6, 9, 10, 13, 20, 27. Email volunteer@peopleandparks.org if interested.
** Please note that we have attempted to have volunteers work remotely, however, with a small staff we have found this difficult to manage this successfully and projects have become drawn out. We realise that this is not ideal for volunteers and I have therefore set the above dates aside to work with volunteers directly on projects in our offices.
Current Volunteers
Thank you for to those volunteers who have been helping us out already. We are working through some of the projects that people have started for us and this assistance has been very useful for us.
Next Volunteer Meeting
Our next group volunteer meeting is at 5:30pm on Wednesday 28th October at Level 10, 535 Bourke St. This is a great opportunity for you to meet other volunteers and to find out about the work People & Parks Foundation will be undertaking. Please RSVP to volunteer@peopleandparks.org if you are attending so that I can ensure there are enough biscuits!
End email quote from People and Parks Foundation
I hope that you can find something interesting in there!
