Volunteer with Baptcare

Our Volunteers enhance the lives of our Residents everyday by visiting them one on one and contributing to activities in our Lifestyle program and Residential Aged Care Communities

Our Residential Aged Care Community are based in:

• Camberwell
• Devonport, Tasmania
• Doncaster East
• Drouin
• East Devonport
• Footscray
• Frankston South
• Kerang
• Kew
• Lalor
• Macleod
• Morwell
• Norlane
• Warragul
• Werribee
• Westmeadows

As a Volunteer you can use your energy, skills and life experience in many different ways, to really make a difference in the lives of people in your community.

Opportunities to help are as follows:

• Do you love to meet new people?  Our Volunteers visit Residents who have very few visitors, are lonely and look forward to having a chat with someone
• Are you creative? Our Volunteers support craft and art groups at our residential sites for our Residents
• Volunteers take Residents on outings, to the movies, out for a coffee or to appointments. They may also assist with Bus trips with our Residents
• Our Communities have lovely gardens and Volunteers help our Residents with gardening groups and activities
• Helping on reception on weekends – Our Volunteers greet Visitors, Families and Volunteers and help to respond to questions
• Adopting a Grandpa or Grandma - Volunteers adopt a special Resident as their Grandpa or Grandma by visiting men and women who live in our communities. They chat, play board games or on the Wii with them for an hour or so each fortnight.
• Participating in the My Mum or Dad’s a hero program- Demonstrate global citizenship to your kids by bringing them to one of our Residential Aged Care Communities to spend time and bringing laughter and joy to our Residents
• Are you inspired by technology? Volunteers help us to connect our Residents with their interstate or international families via technology and communications tools. Volunteers also assist us with our virtual reality experiences for our Residences
• Day care or Preschool centre groups- Our Residents love little children and so we invite Preschool children, mothers groups and play groups into our Residential Aged Care Communities to spend time with our Residents.

To apply please contact us at volunteer@baptcare.org.au

We believe that every child and every childhood is precious. We are in urgent need of foster carers in Melbourne's Northern and Western suburbs and in Tasmania.

Our foster carers come from all types of backgrounds, situations and walks of life.

You can provide foster care full time, part time or simply support a foster family by assisting with babysitting, tutoring, transports to school or sports activities or just providing a helping hand occasionally.

There are different types of foster care that suit different households. We can help you understand what foster care option is right for you:

• respite care (for example, one weekend per month)
• emergency care
• short term care (3–6 months)
• longer term care (6 months and more)
• friends of foster carers (for example, helping other carers with the school run).

You can also note a preference on the age and gender of children that join your household.

Foster carers are required to be over 21 years of age, have adequate space in their home, have no criminal record, and pass a police and working with children check.

Please visit our foster care page for more information.

Sanctuary is committed to establishing a model of community-based support for people seeking asylum, as a viable and sustainable alternative to homelessness and destitution. As part of this commitment we are partnering with individuals in the community who have a strong alignment to human rights issues and the objective of supporting people seeking asylum to integrate into our community, achieve safety, rebuild their lives and flourish.

Sanctuary offers transitional accommodation to 75 unaccompanied men and one family who are seeking asylum, awaiting an outcome on their Protection Visa application. Housing and a range of supports are offered in two sites in Preston and Brunswick. We are also now partnering with church communities to offer dispersed housing in other suburbs. We work with residents to empower them to learn English, gain employment and obtain independent housing, as well as creating a socially cohesive environment in which people are free to belong and to participate.

Our range of volunteer roles is growing fast and now includes casework, English teaching and tutoring, gardening, small carpentry and maintenance projects, food collection and distribution, art, bushwalking and employment mentoring.

For more information about becoming a Baptcare volunteer with Sanctuary, please contact 03 8480 9010 or 0439 038 677.

If you have parenting skills, enjoy being around children, have two hours a week to spare and would love to support a local family in in Bendigo, then why not join Baptcare’s Home-Start volunteer program.

Our Home-Start volunteers provide emotional and practical support to a local family with pre-school aged children in their own home. They provide non-judgmental support including:

• talking about boundaries, discipline and parenting strategies
• listening to day-to-day worries and parenting concerns
• sharing their experience and knowledge to help parents explore what options and approaches might work for their family
• helping parents to build new peer relationships
• assistance to find local community services and support  to attend  those important early years’ appointments
• engage with the children around creative play, learning language and literacy
• help with small jobs alongside the parent in the home.

If you would like more information please contact Baptcare’s Bendigo office on 03 5432 4570.

From time to time we have numerous projects, of varying lengths of time, in different areas of the organisation where volunteer involvement is welcome and can be integral for project completion. Projects occur in areas such as administration, finance, strategy and property development.

If you would like more information about Volunteering with Baptcare, call the Volunteer Program Lead at our Camberwell office on 0439 100 184 or 13 22 78.

We have two options for pastoral care volunteering with Baptcare.

1. Running Christian services in our aged care facilities across Victoria and in Devonport
2. Baptcare’s aged care Chaplains are inviting interested Christians to come along and hear about volunteering with Baptcare as a pastoral visitor with our community aged care clients and residents in retirement living and aged care

If you would like more information about Volunteering with Baptcare, call the Volunteer Program Lead at our Camberwell office on 0439 100 184 or 13 22 78

Do you love a chat? We are seeking Volunteers who can make some welfare check calls for us for our new We Care program.  We have people in our community who live alone and are very isolated and we are seeking Volunteers who can call then just to check in and say hello to make sure that they are ok. No sales pitch, no advice, just a check in call.  Can you help us?

In every community there are elderly people who live alone.  They may be ok but they are isolated and would love someone to talk to for a few minutes a couple of times a month.  We are seeking Volunteers who would be willing to chat to them and make sure that they are ok.

Volunteers are needed for approx. 4 hours per fortnight during business hours, Days and hours can be flexible.

If you would like to help us launch our We Care program at Baptcare then apply now. Contact us at volunteer@baptcare.org.au

Have you ever felt lonely? Would you like to help someone who is lonely and would just love someone to chat to for a few hours each fortnight? We are looking for community volunteers with compassion, energy and a desire to support older adults, interested in helping to improve their quality of life and reduce their social isolation after they have been released from a hospital stay.

These community members would love to have you visit them at home after they have been released from hospital for a few months and spend some time with them chatting, playing board games, watching movies together or simply doing things together. No nursing or clinical experience is needed, just your company.

We ask for approx. 3 hours per fortnight and can provide support and training.

Contact us at volunteer@baptcare.org.au

• Pen Pals Program– your class could write letters about their month to our Residents and send them into our Residents so that they have the joy of receiving a letter each month – Volunteers assist with writing back to the Students
• Adopt a Grandpa – Students adopt a special Resident as their Grandpa or Grandma by visiting one of our men or women who live in our communities and playing board games or on the Wii with them. This is a great leadership program for students.
• My Dad’s A Hero – kids spend time with their Dad or Mum playing board games, bingo, trivia, crafts or other fun activities in our Residential Aged Care Communities
• Life Story Project – Grade 5 & 6 students visit Residents and help fill in our Life story book to help create wonderful moments of their lives
• Eating with Friends – Primary school groups bring their lunch to our Residential Aged Care Communities and eat with the Residents

To find out about our Leadership awards and more information click here

or

Contact us at volunteer@baptcare.org.au

• Work Experience Placements -Students can apply to do their work experience in our offices and our Residential Aged Care Communities.
• Weekend Reception Assistance – Students help out on reception on weekends – greeting Visitors and Volunteers and helping to respond to questions
• Our Year In Pictures – photography project – Student helps the Lifestyle team put together a memento of activities that Resident have done throughout each year.
• Life Story Project – Secondary Students visit Residents and help fill in our Life story book to help create wonderful moments of their lives
• Pen Pals Program– Primary school Students write letters about their month to our Residents and send them into our Residents so that they have the joy of receiving a letter each month – Secondary Students assist with writing back to their Pen Pals
• Adopt A Grandpa – Students adopt a special Resident as their Grandpa or Grandma by visiting one of our men or women who live in our communities and playing board games or on the Wii with them. This is a great leadership program for students.
• My Dad’s A Hero – kids spend time with their Dad or Mum playing board games, bingo, trivia, crafts or other fun activities in our Residential Aged Care Communities
• Life Story Project – Grade 5 & 6 students visit Residents and help fill in our Life story book to help create wonderful moments of their lives
• Eating With Friends – Primary school groups bring their lunch to our Residential Aged Care Communities and eat with the Residents

To find out about our Secondary School Leadership awards and more information click here

or

Contact us at volunteer@baptcare.org.au