Volunteer South says Student Volunteer Week (taking place this week) is a good opportunity for young people to consider volunteering opportunities in their communities.

The local organisation connects volunteers and organisations and spokesperson Gillian White said in 2022 it was finding even more ways to make youth volunteering possible.

“Volunteer South is passionate about enabling young people to connect with their community through volunteering and will be focusing on enabling more young people to volunteer this year,” she said.

“We will be working hard in the upcoming year to highlight the benefits to organisations of opening their doors to young people.”

Volunteer South spokesperson Gillian White said the organisation was focusing on enabling more people to volunteer this year. PHOTO: Supplied

There are already a range of ways for young people to volunteer, such as through the William Pike Challenge, Duke of Edinburgh Award and Mount Aspiring College's (MAC) Students in the Community programme.

Gilian said last year Volunteer South connected 100 students from MAC and Dunstan High School with volunteering opportunities on teacher-only days, although Covid-19 has made that more difficult so far this year.

See also: ‘Students seize volunteering opportunity’

“We…are looking forward to re-establishing this work when the risk of Covid-19 allows,” Gillian said.

Volunteer South is part of a national youth focus group within the Volunteer Centre Network Aotearoa, which is working to reach deeper into their communities to support youth volunteering and to encourage organisations to offer the flexibility often needed by our youngest volunteers.

“Young volunteers bring so much to the organisations they support; a fresh energy, passion and many new skills and ideas,” Gillian said.

“There are young people keen to volunteer - so we will be focusing on supporting them to become active volunteers.”

Volunteer South is a charitable trust that engages and supports both casual volunteers and volunteers involving organisations and community groups in the Southern region of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more about the organisation and its volunteering opportunities here.