Two out of three weekends across the summer season you will likely find me volunteering in the red and yellow.
Becoming a surf lifesaver was one of my bucket list goals. Ever since I was a kid that holidayed in a caravan by the beach I wanted to one day don the red and yellow uniform.
When we moved to Bundaberg, enrolling the kids in nippers was a non-negotiable. We didn't want them to become a statistic because we hadn't taught them to be beach safe. Through nippers, I became more involved and last season, I got my red and yellow uniform.
Sitting at the beach today with very few people around, it gave me a lot of time to think. I often get asked, why are you involved in so many things? I volunteer through nippers as well as patrol, I commissaire at cycling, a parent rep at the school and on the P&F. For the most part, I volunteer because my kids are involved and I'm not really one to sit on the sidelines if help is needed.
But... wearing the red and yellow uniform and patrolling the beach is the one thing I do for me. Not only is it fulfilling a lifelong dream, it's also a great excuse to fill my cup while at the beach. I have always been drawn to the beach and after an hour or so in the fresh salty air, I feel my balance restored.
Chatting with others on patrol this morning, we got to the subject of finding more volunteers to help share the load. There is a big gap for lifesaving volunteers. When you reach Under 13s, you can start patrolling as an SRC, which quite a few of the younger ones do. After a year or so, this cohort can also get a job, which means we lose volunteers because you can't expect people to choose volunteering over their first job...
For a while now we've been having conversations about how to attract and retain volunteers - and not just for red and yellow. This is a holistic issue.
So over to you, my colleagues, friends and community. What can volunteer organisations do to try and get more people???
#hackitout #hackathon #innovation #volunteering #volunteer #ideas #ideation
#problemsolving #ittakesacommunity
SOS is so incredible! It's always surprising how many kids live close to a ski mountain and have never had a lesson.