Northlanders offer helping hands for National Volunteer Week

Manager of Volunteering Northland, Bart van der Meer (centre) with Trish Clarke (left) and Lucy Schuurman highlight volunteering in Northland for Volunteer Week.

National Volunteer Week is running from June 17 until June 23 and there are a huge number of projects that Northlanders can get involved with to do their bit.

Northland has the highest rate of volunteers in New Zealand. Around 37 per cent of the adult population volunteer about four hours per week on average, according to Volunteering Northland.

Individuals and groups from large corporations' leadership ranks, businesses, non-profit organisations and student crews alike are encouraged to step up and sign up to volunteer around the region.

Volunteering Northland are advertising well over 200 options for volunteers this year. These include a paint job at Trade Aid, Daffodil House clean-up, a Special Olympics football event at Kensington Stadium, to name a few.

The theme of Volunteer Week this year is "The Heart of our Community – By many, the work will be completed".

Manager of Volunteering Northland Bart van der Meer says the theme is all about many hands making light work.

Van der Meer said this year was different to last year, in that the volunteering doesn't need to be undertaken during the National Volunteering Week.

"We're not asking the organisations to do it all this week because what we found in the past is that the weather would often postpone projects and they'd have to be done outside of the week anyway," van der Meer said.

Volunteering NZ chairwoman Helga Wientjes said that the work volunteers do in New Zealand was the lifeblood to our society.

"In every community you find volunteers who relentlessly work to make New Zealand a better place – whether it is through setting traps in a local reserve, patrolling the beach through summer or delivering a meal to someone in need," she said.

Volunteers make a vital contribution to social development, the economy and the environment and donate upwards of 157 million hours to non-profits, annually.

Volunteering Northland works with more than 170 community groups across Northland, helping them connect with volunteers.

People can register online to volunteer around Northland at www.volunteeringnorthland.nz.