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Media Release For Immediate Release
15 March 2006
Staged Strike Call for One Million Volunteers
What if all New Zealanders volunteers went on strike? That is the question being raised by a community and volunteer sector staged strike for 15 March.
Who would look after the kids at Playcentre? Would you knock off early to replace the school sports coaches? Leave your grandparents to go hungry if there were no Meals on Wheels deliveries?
What if you needed a St John’s Ambulance worker? What if all the volunteer firefighters in New Zealand called it quits for 24 hours? What if lives were lost because volunteers weren’t there?
The staged strike will occur as part of Volunteer Awareness Week (12 – 16 March), a national celebration of the excellent, but often undervalued, work that New Zealand volunteers do.
“Volunteers form the backbone of many communities by delivering vital services across a huge range of sectors. Every New Zealander is touched by volunteer services,” says Tony Spelman, Co Chair of the Community Sector Taskforce.
“The value of New Zealand volunteers is often grossly underestimated and COmVOiceS is calling on all New Zealanders to take time during Volunteer Awareness Week to recognise their contribution to society,” says Dave Henderson, the coordinator of the Association of Non Governmental Organisations of Aotearoa.
Throughout the country there are more than 60,000 Tangata Whenua and community and voluntary groups delivering key health, emergency, sporting, social, environmental, educational, cultural and faith-based services.
The economic value of voluntary groups is also significant. A 2004 report, known as the VAVA (Value Added by Voluntary Agencies) project studied 10 of the largest voluntary social service groups and found that for every dollar they receive in funding, they deliver between three and five dollars worth of services to communities.
“Few private or public sector organisations could add the same level of value to money that these organisations achieve, nor could they replace the immense skills, knowledge and understanding that voluntary groups have. That is a key message that we will be highlighting as part of the staged strike action. Who would our communities turn to for support without these vital Tangata Whenua, community and voluntary groups?” says General Manager of the Funding Information Service Andrea Goble.
For more information on Volunteer Awareness Week visit: www.volunteeringnz.org.nz.
ENDS
NZFVWO, Volunteering New Zealand, Funding Information Service, Community Sector Taskforce and ANGOA are members of COMVOICES, an independent coalition of Tangata Whenua and leading community and voluntary organisations that has been set up to promote the voluntary sector and the contribution it makes to New Zealand society.
For more information, please contact:
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