Volunteer Great Lake Taupō is welcoming the community to its first-ever COMAVOL, Community and Volunteer Expo

COMAVOL will be opened by Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston on Saturday 22 June at the Great Lake Centre at 10am and run through till 2pm. Entry is free and everyone is welcome.

This is a great opportunity for the community to meet local community organisations and seek out volunteer positions. Alongside the incredible line-up of organisations participating, there will be a range of guest speakers to give a first-hand account of what their volunteering has meant to them.

The line-up of organisations on the hunt for fabulous volunteers includes; Hato Hono St John, Friends of the Emergency Department, Taupō Citizens Advice Bureau, Greening Taupō, Taupō Council of Social Services, Taupō Red Cross, Special Olympics Taupō Trust and many more!

Kelly Vogel from Be Collective, the software used to connect volunteers to opportunities, will be guest speaking at COMAVOL this year. She’ll be discussing social CVs and how they help young Kiwis start their professional careers through volunteering.

Along with Vogel, Mark Chapman from Duke of Edinburgh will host a talk on what it means to challenge young people to develop skills and tools to improve themselves and how volunteering counts towards this prestigious award.

Community development is at the heart of Peter Boyd’s conversation to budding volunteers. He comes from Taupō District Council with a wealth of knowledge in connecting with the community.

Greening Taupō’s Shawn Vennel and Kids Greening Taupō’s Angela Schur will be bringing first-hand experiences. Together, the two organisations have planted more than 200,000 trees in the Taupō District, thanks to more than 9000 hours worth of volunteer time.

The man behind COMAVOL, Volunteer Great Lake Taupō coordinator Julian Bishop says: “This has been a dream of mine, to provide our community with an event that connects potential volunteers to organisations in need.”

“We want potential volunteers to be able to find a great match with the organisations while enjoying our fantastic line-up of keynote speakers. Even if they only have a couple of hours to give, that can make a world of difference.”

COMAVOL has had multiple sponsorships from companies and organisations around the district, including Volunteer Great Lake Taupō, Quality Print, AJ Creative Studios, Suncourt India, DPA Accountants, Taupō District Council, Brandfuel, Sign On, Mad Media and Mediaworks.

“We are incredibly lucky to have such a supportive community of businesses and we thank them all very much for their support,” Julian says.

COMAVOL will run from 10am till 2pm on Saturday 22 June at the Great Lake Centre.

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