Celebrating our volunteers

This National Volunteer Week BaptistCare celebrates the generous contribution of our 790 passionate BaptistCare volunteers, like Stanley Thomas whose profile is shared below, who have contributed over 42,000 hours to volunteering this year alone. Our youngest volunteer is just eight years old and plays chess with one of our residents at Hedley Sutton Community while our oldest is 95 who assists in the kiosk at Strathalan Community. BaptistCare will hold 19 events this week recognising the contribution of our volunteers within our communities and programs. Volunteers will also be recognised for their length of service and receive acknowledgement in the form of badges and certificates.

Retiree, Stanley Thomas, recently begun volunteering as an Administration and IT volunteer for BaptistCare’s Sanctuary program. Stanley was eager to help support a not-for-profit organisation and welcomed the opportunity after learning of the program via the BaptistCare website.

Not new to volunteering, Stanley currently volunteers for the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) tutoring migrants in English. His previous volunteering has seen him tutor two Melbourne Polytechnic students of refugee backgrounds undertaking bookkeeping courses, develop finance procedures for the Compass Club which is part of Melbourne City Mission, and conduct computer training for new migrants at Whittlesea Community Connections.

BaptistCare’s Sanctuary program prides itself on providing people with safety, opportunity and a fair go. This is done through Sanctuary’s work in providing education, developing skills and knowledge, work opportunities and building a respectful community.

During his one day a week at Sanctuary, Stanley works on spreadsheets, formatting documents and consulting on developing new databases. His work enables Sanctuary staff to spend more time focusing on the residents.

When asked about how he feels about volunteering, Stanley says he gains a real sense of satisfaction through his volunteer work at Sanctuary.

“I truly feel like I am making a difference and a real part of the community,” says Stanley.

“There is a sense of belonging at Sanctuary, through the friendly atmosphere of staff and volunteers”.

“During my short time so far at Sanctuary I have thoroughly enjoyed and admired the work undertaken to protect such vulnerable members of the community,” says Stanley.

Stanley went on to recommend the opportunity of volunteering to others describing BaptistCare as an “organisation which can utilise the skills, talents and experience of volunteers in order to meet its objectives”.

BaptistCare is forever grateful for people like Stanley, as their generosity makes such a positive difference in the lives of all who reside at Sanctuary.

Around 73 per cent of our BaptistCare volunteers say they want to make a difference and that BaptistCare supports them to achieve this. BaptistCare volunteers not only make a wonderful contribution to the Sanctuary program, but also to our residential aged care residents, our famillies and their children, our staff and our foster children and we cannot express our gratitude enough for their hard work. From all of us here at BaptistCare, we say THANK YOU for everything our volunteers do!