Student Volunteer Week, 1-7 May 2017, showcases student engagement in volunteering and Volunteering Canterbury is excited to present, with support from the University of Canterbury, a three hour expo where 25 not-for-profit organisations will be talking to students about what volunteering with their organisation has to offer. Organisations in attendance at the Undercroft, Puaka-James Hight Building from 11.30am to 2.30pm on Tuesday 2 May will include newcomer to Christchurch, City Harvest, which is distributing unused supermarket food to community groups, English Language Partners who engage volunteer tutors to support newcomers to our city with learning English as a second language, Pillars, who are on the lookout for mentors for their in-home programme of support for young people who have a parent/caregiver incarcerated, and Imagination Station, a central city venue which provides free lego play for young and old and robotics holiday programmes! Later in the week, Volunteering Canterbury will be talking at Lincoln University about the helper’s high that comes from routinely helping other people and inviting students to ‘give volunteering a shot!’.

Volunteers recruited through Volunteering Canterbury’s recruitment programme last year gifted 306,000 hours to the region, impacting on the lives of 36,000 people. ‘Community organisations should reflect the communities they work in’, Glenda Martin, Volunteering Canterbury’s Outreach and Marketing Manager explains when she talks about providing ongoing volunteer opportunities for students. ‘And it’s a win win for the students - employers tell us that those who come to them with volunteering experience in the community have picked up life skills which enhance their ability to put what they learn in the lecture theatre into practice’.

@UCNC @volunteerCanty #SVW2017 #Ivolunteerbecause

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