Volunteer Whanganui manager Sandra Rickey has been part of two help groups operating at the Whanganui City Mission food bank during the Covid-19 lockdown and says there have been "a lot of laughs and some
Covid 19 coronavirus: Volunteer Whanganui likely to recruit at level 2
Rickey said Volunteer Whanganui was one of the few centres in the country that maintained a face-to-face registration policy, so new volunteers wouldn't be recruited until at least level 2.
"To us, face to face is absolutely essential, and we follow each person on their volunteer journey.
"I can understand why bigger centres offer online registration, but Whanganui is such a close-knit place that we really need to get to know the volunteer before they're placed in an organisation.
"Having a close relationship with our volunteers means we can put teams together really fast if needs be, just by looking through their history and seeing what they've done."
To maintain face-to-face volunteer registration, some rejigging will need to take place, Rickey says.
"We have to make sure we don't have hordes of people looking to register, and first and foremost we need to create a safe environment in our office."
"We have a computer where people can look through all the volunteer jobs, so we'll need to partition that and make sure there's plenty of hand sanitiser available."
Rickey said Whanganui had "an incredible community".
• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website
"Being kind to one another throughout all this is so important because you don't know what's going on in someone else's bubble, or where they've come from.
"You've got to be able to laugh out loud at least once a day, and it can be so therapeutic from a mental health perspective.
"I had to pre-warn everyone in our Zoom meetings that I'm a notorious cuddler, and there'll be plenty of hugs for everyone when restrictions are eased."
Rickey says that people who are interested in becoming a volunteer should call the Volunteer Whanganui office.
"At the end of the day, we need to put everyone's health first, so people need to bear with us as we get things going again."
Volunteer Whanganui can be reached on 06 347 9430