National Volunteer Week 2019 - Why we Volunteer 3!

Photo (Top R - L): Sophie Hood, Flavia, Blake (Botton R - L) Erin, Pat, Aneet George

Sophie Hood
I have been a volunteer since January 2017 whilst I study Mechatronic Engineering at Adelaide University, you can find out more about My Volunteer Experience at Connecting Up here:>>

Flavia
Flavia has been volunteering with Connecting Up as part of a Council partnership program with the City of Prospect. We have known Flavia to have always been community-minded, volunteering and contributing to a number of organisations. She has written several articles here>>https://sacommunity.org/blog/17092 about local Prospect community groups whilst assisting the SAcommunity program to keep the local Prospect area listings up-to-date for council and local community use, partnerships and networking.  
 
Blake
I have been volunteering at Connecting Up for the past year while studying at TAFE SA in a IT Networking Diploma program.
 
Initially, I started as part of a volunteering program in partnership with Volunteering SA&NT. After the program ended I decided to continue volunteering with SAcommunity as it was a positive and joyful experience.
 
Like a lot of people, I started to volunteer to gain more working experience and to connect with other people. In particular, I hope to gain paid work in the IT field or related field. I have gained essential skills including customer service skills, responding to emails, develop a good phone manner, Microsoft Teams and how to use business VoIP software. I am really enjoying my time volunteering here.
 
Erin
I began volunteering in November 2017 whilst studying Administration at TAFE SA, you can find more about My Volunteer Experience at Connecting Up here:>>

Pat
I enjoy 'paying my experience forward' through volunteering at non-profit organisations. Over the past 5 years, I have supported communications/marketing roles across Cora Barclay Centre and Parkinson's SA, where promotional support is vital to build awareness and celebrate achievements. 
Since October 2018, I value being 'connected' through, assisting in the operation of events (writing for the Communications Manager), and in data collection, to updating critical information into their database.   
 
I appreciate the balanced volunteer leadership with volunteer feedback, and the opportunity for the extension of building on existing, and cultivating desired skills. I'm always keen to support fellow team members to value and reflect their volunteering experiences into the wider community.
 
I see Connecting Up as a valuable resource for building the capabilities of non-profit organisations; to fulfil their mission and generate greater awareness of their purpose. Volunteers gain not only personal growth, but a greater appreciation of the pivotal work of Connecting Up in the community.

[Editors Note: Pat worked with our marketing coordinator Grant and in September Pat moved into utilising her skills in Parkinsons SA , thanks for volunteering with us Pat]  

Aneet George
I am a recent graduate of the Master of Information Technology program. I have been volunteering with Connecting Up since November 2018.
 
Initially I started volunteering at Connecting Up as part of the UniSA+ Leadership program. Since the program has been completed, I have been volunteering to prepare myself with essential skills required for IT positions such as Business Analysis, Project Management etc.
 
This opportunity at Connecting Up has helped me build my network and improve my transferable skills towards my career and paid work.

[Editors Note: We are pleased to announce that Aneet transitioned into full-time work in September 2019 in her field - Well done Aneet!]

Cheryl (not pictured)
I have been doing a mixture of paid casual work and volunteer work at Connecting Up for the past 5 years. I also spent 6 months volunteering at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and currently also volunteer for Greens SA.

At Connecting Up I work on SA Community an online community directory. This involves editing listings in the directory and phoning organisations to confirm their details. I volunteer because I enjoy it and I am also hoping to gain part time employment in Administration or Customer Support.

Lynn (not pictured)
I have been volunteering at Connecting Up now for coming up to 3 years (in October). I first came to Connecting Up after finishing my Business Administration studies to gain some work experience, build confidence and become more familiar with the Australian work culture. I am now studying Book keeping and Accounting and I am looking forward to utilising my skills gained here for future employment in these areas.
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Why we Volunteer - continues on the following blogs
National Volunteer Week 2019
Why we Volunteer 1
Why we Volunteer 2
Why we Volunteer 3