My Volunteer Experience - Brooke Lloyd

Brooke began volunteering with Connecting Up on 11 September 2019 after finishing a double degree in Media and Arts at the University of Adelaide. Like many students and new graduates, she aimed to use her time wisely by practicing the skills she developed while studying amid job hunting. However she found she also gained administrative experience, learnt about the not-for-profit sector, created new connections and networks and became a valuable member of the team.

We soon were able to congratulate Brooke as she successfully transitioned into full-time employment in the community/disability services sector a few months afterwards. In June 2022 Brooke became successful in gaining employment in the academic sector aligned with her goals and interests in creating written content. 

Fortunately for us, we were glad to welcome Brooke back to our service again when she volunteered to assist us to update services affected by the bushfires in January 2020 in response to our ‘Volunteer Alumni’ call and she has continued to volunteer with us since, by writing SAcommunity news articles and stories remotely after hours and on weekends.

"I have read through your email and wondering whether I could help in any way? I understand my availability is a bit limited with being unable to attend the daytime Zoom meetings, but I would be interested in contributing something, no matter how little, to what you are all doing." Since then Brooke has stayed on, the first of a number of our team with full-time or part-time employment have continued volunteering remotely after hours or on weekends and to whom we are grateful.

Work Experience: Media and Communications
Brooke has a passion for writing and soon found herself in the Media and Communications Team, with over 14,000 services listed to choose from, she soon found herself writing articles for the SAcommunity blog across a vast range of subjects, themes and organisations. These storytelling articles act to promote and raise the profile and awareness of local community services, events and activities. Our volunteers receive a personal 'portfolio link' to all their contributions to the SAcommunity blog to add to their resume or LinkedIn profile and a link to all Brooke’s articles can be found >>here https://sacommunity.org/blog/19312 .

Examples of her work include a Christmas Pageant Guide in 2019 to help people engage with the festivities happening in their local community which received over 3,137 views. “Spreading Winter Warmth - Comfort through Craft” the Covid-19 lockdown craft article written just before winter was also popular.

Brooke explains, “I decided to focus on charity groups that donate knitted goods to those who are vulnerable. Knit4Charities was particularly an interesting group as they connect online. I had thought about writing on different local knitting groups, but quickly found many are not meeting currently due to COVID-19, as such, I figured this might be the angle to go with. I was happy to look further into how the crafts space has evolved and from what I had researched, it's quite a diverse little world! The article ties in with the change of season, but also for people who may not have access these comfort items at the moment.”

Brooke also collated records for Justice of the Peace Services in South Australia, Christmas and Festive Season Events 2021, and Christmas Pageants Guide 2023, School Holiday Programs 2021, and introduced storytelling articles, programs and grants such as the Connections Program and many more found >>here.

There is a great deal of work involved in both the articles and the summaries Brooke has created. In finding and confirming information, gaining permissions and updating records mentioned to ensure accuracy and these community stories have had enormous benefit for the community sector. Thank you Brooke.

Grant Smyth, Communications Manager Infoxchange at the Melbourne Connecting Up Conference 11 - 13 May 2022

Connecting Up Mentor
Volunteers also have the opportunity to connect with our staff, through an informal volunteer mentor program, including Sam Lloyd, Marketing Lead, Products and Services for the Infoxchange Group, Brad Atkinson Digital Marketing Coordinator for the Infoxchange Group and Grant Smyth Conference and Communications Manager for Connecting Up and TechSoup New Zealand. Grant has been a senior journalist in the UK and is currently Brooke’s mentor in the program “Thank you for giving me the chance to connect with him as well, I appreciate it.“

Training and Development
As a Volunteer, Brooke also has access to the Connecting Up Digital Learning Platform, an online training and development resource providing her with live and recorded webinars, workshops and webcons presented by subject matter experts to continue her life-long learning journey.

Recently Brooke selected, attended, and summarised the following training session to enhance her skills as part of being a volunteer: