VOA L U N T E E R I NG GIFT AND A SACRIFICE
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BY NEVILLE BARTLEY
National Youth Ministry Leader, SUNZ
cripture Union NZ (SUNZ) camps run only because of the wonderful volunteers who selflessly give up their own time to come and lead. These amazing people make many sacrifices to lead on our camps, and we honour them all–the gift of their time enables us to continue to run camps and impact the lives of the young people who attend. The world today is very different from even 20 years ago: more single-parent families; high housing costs; both parents working; students needing part-time work to finance tertiary study; extended working hours–perhaps in more than one job to make ends meet. All over New Zealand, organisations are finding it harder and harder to find volunteers and SUNZ camps are no different. The sad truth for SUNZ is that a lack of volunteer leaders has resulted in some camps being cancelled. The cost of time and finances for a volunteer is potentially substantial. Just how substantial depends on the life situation of the volunteer. Time spent leading at camp is time you cannot be at work, study, with your family or engaged in other recreational activity. For anyone who is employed, volunteering at camp usually means using up some annual leave. A married person may also have to spend time away from spouse and children. If both parents in a family are working, the other partner may also need to take leave to
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care for children or else pay for childcare. Students make up a lot our camp leaders, but they often have to take time off from study programmes–particularly as many of the school holidays when SUNZ camps run no longer coincide with tertiary holidays and study breaks. That can be hard when many courses have minimum attendance requirements. In addition, most students have part-time employment to finance their studies. To lead on a camp they may have to take unpaid time off from work–heavy cost for a student. Some students may have to forgo holiday work to be able to lead on one of our camps and that means giving up the opportunity to earn money to help with their ongoing study. Does this mean volunteers are a dying breed? We hope and pray not! But we also might need to think differently–and we encourage you to do the same. Don’t let age rule you out of helping at camp–maybe our drivers and cooks and small group leaders will be closer to retirement age than teenage years. Or maybe you could offer holiday work or sponsorship to a student who volunteers on our camps? Recruitment of volunteers might sound like a challenge and it is. We cannot thank our wonderful and selfless volunteers enough for all they do to inspire and equip another generation through Scripture Union camps. THANK YOU!
