Volunteering can transform you and you can help to transform the world around you

You want to volunteer, but where to start?

It doesn’t take much to be a volunteer but to be a great volunteer you must love what you are doing.  To find the perfect role, find something that inspires you, something you are passionate about.  Then look for a need in the community that feels right for you.

Volunteering is a rich and rewarding experience and many of our parishioners give tirelessly to Vinnies by working in the opportunity shops at Hawthorn and Mont Albert, serving on the soup vans, home visitations and in other ways.

We had an opportunity to catch up with a few of our volunteers and following are their reflections on their time with Vinnies.

Poolo from St Vincent de Paul Deepdene/Balwyn Conference has been a member since 2000 after retiring from his professional life.

Being an internationally recognised charity, Poolo was aware of SVDP during his student days in the 1960’s in New Zealand and subsequent working life in the 1970’s in Malaysia and thought that SVDP was a good way to contribute to community life.

1998 saw Poolo and his wife Marina, serving on the Fitzroy/City Vinnies Soup van for a year.  This involved the preparation of food, travelling around the city serving the needy with soup, sandwiches, cakes and providing general companionship.

After joining the local parish conference and undertaking local home visits and bread runs, Poolo started weekly home visitation of those in need in areas of Melbourne where there was no SVDP support services available.

Over the past 21 years, Poolo has been involved as a volunteer in many roles with Vinnies including:

• Regular home visits to people in need, always working in pairs to ensure their safety.  In addition to home visits in our parish area, areas serviced have included St. Kilda, Prahran, Toorak, North, South & Port Melbourne, North Richmond, Fitzroy & Carlton.
• The coordination of the home visits programme for our Parish Conference, involving rostering of some 24 Conference members for weekly home visits locally in our parish as well as more needy areas in South, North and Port Melbourne areas in response to calls for assistance.
• Serving on the management committee of the Hawthorn Vinnies Store.
• As President of our Parish Conference (2006-2008) and the Camberwell Regional Council (2009-2011), over-seeing the performance of Vinnies Stores in Hawthorn, East Kew, Malvern and Ashburton.
• Volunteering weekly at the Hawthorn Vinnies Store, sorting of donated goods, pricing and merchandising of goods, checking and arrangement of furniture, repair and sale of donated watches, and training of new volunteers.

Poolo says “It is very rewarding to be able to assist families with children, single mothers in need, people recovering from illnesses of all kinds, and generally people who have missed out on various aspects of life.  Support given has been in the form of supermarket vouchers, furniture, bill payments for utilities, pharmacies and school education and importantly general companionship.”

At Surrey Hills Wattle Park Conference, we have M** (volunteer wishes to remain anonymous) who provides a reflection on her time with Vinnies.

M’s father was a Vincentian and that planted the seed for her interest in Vinnies, joining the local conference in 2007 following her retirement.

M has been providing regular home visits teamed with other Vinnies Volunteers, until five years ago when her husband retired, and they have teamed together to conduct home visits in the Surrey Hills/Wattle Park area.

Meeting people and lending an empathetic ear to their problems, providing practical help such as food, Vinnies shop vouchers, furniture, assistance with bills and education expenses together with the camaraderie at the local Conference monthly meetings are just some of the rewards.

During her time with Vinnies, M has been involved with:

• Organising furniture requests through the local Vinnies store at Mont Albert
• Preparation of sandwiches for the Collingwood Soup Van
• Coordination of a 10-member group who would prepare food every fortnight from goods donated by the generous owner of the local Bread Street Bakery. Twenty loaves of breads were made into sandwiches and then packaged along with assorted rolls and cakes. The food was then delivered by other team members to Collingwood for distribution to the needy that evening.

M believes that “volunteering for Vinnies has been extremely satisfying and that the rewards for the giver are greater than those for the receiver”.

Volunteering provides us with a chance to give something back to our community by using our skills and experience to make a difference in the lives of people. Vinnies allows us to help those who are in need the most assistance. Volunteering can provide us with a chance to develop new skills and experience in a supportive environment.

To learn more about the volunteer opportunities available or to register to be a volunteer visit Vinnies.

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal – help to uphold the dignity of families this Christmas by donating to Vinnies annual Christmas Appeal.  Since the pandemic began many people have lost work and now as the bills continue to mount up, they worry about losing their homes too.  1 in 8 Australians are living in poverty, as are 1 in 6 children.

St Vincent de Paul Deepdene Balwyn Conference have a direct funding page, visit to donate to our local Conference.

For other ways to donate to our parishes’ St Vincent de Paul Conferences, download the SVDP Christmas Appeal Donation Form.

By Kate Baines