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Volunteer Opportunitieswith Welcome to Australia

At The Welcome Centre we run a variety of English Programs. Some are in a more formal, classroom setting, while others will be more social - using games and activities to assist people to develop their conversational skills in a friendly environment. You don’t need to be a teacher to volunteer – you just need to have a great attitude and be ready to have some fun! We also offer private tutoring for people who find it hard to make it to the centre for classes. This would suit volunteers who are not able to attend the centre during business hours and who are able make an ongoing commitment to meet with a student.

Many of the new arrivals that visit The Welcome Centre do not have the right to work or study in Australia because of restrictions on their Visa. This is quite distressing for our friends, as they wish to contribute to society and be involved in the community. To encourage this, we run various programs and projects for our friends to contribute to. So far this has included IT classes, aerobics, ‘crafternoons’, and gardening projects, but the list is unlimited! What skills do you have that you would like to share with a group? Come along and help out in our current programs, or let us know if you have an idea for something!

Visitors to The Welcome Centre are often very new to Adelaide. This presents many challenges for them: navigating the city and their local area; finding local shops and services; using public transport; and understanding Australian currency and how to budget – just to name a few! By volunteering in The Welcome Centre’s Social Support program, you can spend time with new arrivals and help to empower them. We also coordinate group tours to various sights/attractions to welcome our new friends to the city of Adelaide.

English Classes

Welcome Centre Programs

Social Support

The Welcome Centre is open Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am to 4pm, and Wednesdays 10am to 6pm. During this time we have volunteers available to greet visitors, and tell them about everything we do at The Welcome Centre in a casual, friendly setting. Many people will require material aid as they move into empty houses with little funds to purchase items. Volunteers can assist on the spot with smaller household items from our donations, while requests for larger items of furniture need to be recorded and then matched to a donor by our Material Aid team. Sometimes we cannot help people with what they need, but we do have a great network of support services throughout Adelaide, and computers on hand to find the information needed. In between visitors, volunteers can be found organising/cleaning the centre, providing admin support, or simply joining in with the programs that are running that day.

Do you have a passion for networking and promotions? Since 2011, Welcome to Australia has:•ExpandedtosevenbranchesthroughoutAustralia•AppearedonChannelTen’s‘TheProject’twice•Drawnover12,000peopletoitsannualnationaleventWalkTogetherin2013•SignedupambassadorssuchasMissyHiggins,TheWiggles,ImogenBailey,Lehmo,IvanMaric,KatieNoonan,TomBallard,andmanymore•Reachedover100,000facebooklikes•Hadover$40,000pledgedtowardaCrowdFundingcampaign

We love holding events, and taking opportunities to tell people about what we do, about the compassionate Australia that we are helping to build, and how they can get involved. We host Welcome Parties throughout the year, which requires volunteers to work with other community groups and/or councils to coordinate these events. Walk Together is held annually, and we are looking to beat our record from last year by attracting even more people! We are always on the lookout for other marketing and fundraising opportunities – fairs, concerts, community days, festivals… If you love to get out there and network, then contact us about volunteering in this area!

Drop In Centre:

Marketing and Event Management

Are you a computer whiz? Are you good at design? Are you a great communicator? With everything that Welcome to Australia has going on, we can always use people who are happy to spend a couple of hours on a computer helping us get the paperwork done. This can be data entry, replying to emails, designing flyers for upcoming events, plus anything and everything else! We have computers available for our volunteers to use at The Welcome Centre, or you can bring your own along.

Administration

We are lucky enough at The Welcome Centre to have many people in the community willing to donate furniture and other items that can be of use to new arrivals. As we have limited storage at The Welcome Centre, the Material Aid Team is required to match furniture donors with new arrivals who have requested the same item, preferably within close proximity. About once a week volunteers will go to collect items from various donors and then distribute these to the new arrivals at their place of residence. It sounds simple, but imagine the feeling, knowing that someone with an injured back who had been sleeping on the floor for 8 months would now have a mattress thanks to the generosity of the community and the Material Aid team providing this service. There are plenty of stories just like this one, which is why our volunteers find working on the Material Aid team highly rewarding.

We are now in the process of recruiting volunteers with qualifications, or who are currently studying in these areas in order to expand our services at The Welcome Centre. If you have a passion for helping asylum seekers, and would like to gain some practical experience, please contact us to find out how you can get involved.

Material Aid Team

Counselling Services / Legal Services

www.welcometoaustralia.org.au

www.facebook.com/WelcomeCentreAdelaideTo find out more, email [email protected]

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