National Volunteer Week - 18 to 24 June 2017

The Team from Citizens Advice Christchurch Area

This year's theme is "Live, laugh, share -- Volunteer" or "Kia ringa hora: Me mahi tūao." This positive message is about celebrating what volunteers bring to their communities. It is important to recognise volunteering and the place it has in keeping our communities strong and healthy.

The benefits of being a volunteer are well-documented. There's better health and the feel-good endorphins that volunteering releases; around how volunteering can help with job prospects; and other health benefits such as extending longevity and reducing depression in many people. As poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, It is one of the beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely help another without helping himself.

National Volunteer Week is a great opportunity to start volunteering or, if you already volunteer, it's a great time to invite a friend to join you. The positive message for the Week celebrates the joy that volunteers bring to their communities. It also reminds us that volunteers reap the reward of a happier, more engaged life because they feel connected to their communities.

“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” — Elizabeth Andrew

I would like to use this opportunity to recognise the huge amount of work done by just over 100 Volunteers for the Christchurch Area Citizens Advice Bureau (3 Branches and 2 satellites). There is extensive training to start with and then they commit to on going training to keep up to date. I am in awe of the service you provide with diligence, care, sympathy and empathy to help anyone who seeks out assistance.

www.nationalvolunteerweek.nz...

www.cab.org.nz...