Volunteering – making a valuable contribution to communities

About 6 million Australians regularly volunteer with an organisation, and many of those are people who are retired.

This is partly because they have more time when they are no longer working, and partly because of the huge benefits volunteering has for wellbeing and a sense of purpose.

Chief Executive Officer of Volunteering Australia, Mark Pearce, says older Australians make a valuable contribution to communities.

"Older Australians are valuable for a whole lot of reasons, but in the context of volunteering, there is both the value to the volunteer themselves but also to the community," explains Mr Pearce.

"I think that the experience of patience and having a different voice with a different perspective brings an entirely different experience to those parts of the community that benefit from the engagement of older people.”

Mr Pearce says older volunteers can bring guidance and structure to organisations, as well as mentor and support younger volunteers, something especially those who don’t engage in volunteering as frequently can benefit from.

Why do older people love volunteering?

Volunteering provides older people with an opportunity for community participation that they won’t get anywhere else.

This community participation has the flow on effects of:

◆ Providing a sense of purpose, belonging, self-worth and positive emotions

◆ Encouraging motivation and drive

◆ Reducing feelings of loss over ending your career

◆ Reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation

◆ Reducing stress and lowering blood pressure

◆ Maintaining strong networks outside of the home

◆ Being more physically active through volunteering activities

◆ Possibly maintaining or improving memory and thinking skills

So volunteering has both mental and physical benefits for older Australians.

Mr Pearce says, "[Volunteering] speaks to the ability to mitigate a lot of those circumstances which may well sit around - loneliness, depression and disconnection.

"Again, we come back to this fundamental sense of involvement and participation within the community, and the real benefits come from reconnecting or connecting in an ongoing fashion."

Volunteering is even being discussed as an option for doctors to prescribe to people as treatment for depression and loneliness, which is how it's already used in the United Kingdom.

Types of volunteering

There are two types of volunteering older people can get involved in –informal and formal.

Formal volunteering is done as part of an organisation, or alongside a Council or Government body, and is structured.

You will likely have a regular schedule, a specific number of hours you volunteer, as well as an idea of what your role will be on the day.

For example, volunteering for a shift in a Red Cross op shop or helping to look after rescue animals at your local Animal Welfare League is formal volunteering.

Local Councils rely on volunteering and generally have a lot of different options available for those who are looking to help in the community. This volunteer work can include driving vulnerable people to medical appointments, joining town beautification groups, volunteering at community centres or youth centres in administration roles, and so much more.

Informal volunteering is less structured, unfunded, and usually through community groups.

It can be anything from helping your neighbour put their bins out or undertaking their shopping to maintaining the gardens at your church or temple, partaking in a bake sale to raise money for your local school or helping out behind the barbecue at a local sports match.

It can also appear during unexpected events, like bushfires or floods, or other times when community need is high, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. This type of volunteering can be impromptu and irregular, and may not be as structured as what you would see through bigger organisations.

Finding opportunities

When searching for any form of volunteer work, Mr Pearce suggests utilising online search engines, like Volunteering Australia's GoVolunteer.com.au website or Seek's volunteer.com.au .

You can also look at different options in your local neighbourhood or your Council might be able to give you a list of the different community groups you could join.

If you have a specific interest or hobby, you will likely find volunteering opportunities in those areas, including:

◆ Community gardens

◆ Environmental projects

◆ Cultural or religious groups

◆ Sporting groups or associations

◆ Art and craft groups

◆ Charities

Mr Pearce says, "You can almost look across every aspect of human involvement in the community and there will be something.”

Barriers to volunteering

Older people who want to volunteer may find their mobility, health or skills are the biggest barriers to volunteering.

For instance, after a couple of years on hiatus, a volunteering opportunity involving a lot of lifting or other physical labour may be too dangerous or taxing on your body to undertake.

Another common barrier for older people is digital literacy and digital

Case Study

Volunteering is key to satisfaction in retirement life

Grahame Wiseman has always been good at listening to people, so when he was approached to become a chaplain at the local hospital, while accompanying his mother on her hospital visit, it seemed a natural volunteer role to take on.

He has continued to volunteer for the past 20 years, talking to people in the Prince Charles Hospital in Inverpine, Queensland, about their worries and helping to care for them through conversation and prayer.

As a retired air force officer, much of Mr Wiseman’s time over the last decade has been taken up by not only his chaplaincy at the hospital, but also as a pastoral care pastor for his Baptist church and a volunteer visitor for the local residential aged care facility.

He is on call and responds to the hospital or aged care home at all hours of the night, whenever someone needs his help to talk through their situation and feel more relaxed.

inclusion, which are becoming more important within the volunteering workforce.

Some older people may feel out of depth with the new focus coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic on using technology to provide volunteering services, like video calls.

Mr Pearce says that COVID-19 has also resulted in a lot of red tape, restrictions and requirements around health and safety, which has made it increasingly difficult for volunteers to be able to serve their community.

If you are finding these barriers affect your ability to volunteer, talk to the organisation you wish to volunteer for and they should be able to support you.

They may provide training in using technology, or adapt the volunteering role you want to take on so that it suits you.

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The biggest thing Mr Wiseman gets out of his volunteer efforts, he says, is satisfaction - satisfaction that he has made someone in distress feel more comfortable.

It takes a certain type of person to be a chaplain, Mr Wiseman says, and the role is all about being able to listen to others, but also steer them into a topic of conversation that puts them in a better frame of mind.

“If there’s someone you see who you think, ‘Boy, that person would make a good chaplain or make a good visitor’, I’d go up and see them and say, ‘have you thought of coming to the hospital, coming to the aged care place and visiting people?’,” Mr Wiseman encourages.

For those without the chaplaincy gift, another option could be to follow his wife Pam’s style and volunteer with the local op shop.

Ms Wiseman organises a group of eight women to run their church’s shop, all through volunteer hours.

“My wife and I are different,” Mr Wiseman says, “Pam likes going out and having fun, joking, having a bit of a laugh, which is not always the case when you go to visit people in hospital because they’re not always up to it.

“Pam will have a quick chat to somebody and a laugh, and she loves that.”

Three years ago, the couple moved into the retirement village that sits alongside the nursing home Mr Wiseman visits, and say they now have both convenience and a deeper connection with the community.

Case study supplied by Bolton Clarke