A citizen with all the right advice
Understanding what is and isn’t okay during the lockdown has been confusing at best.
For David Cameron, a volunteer at Citizen’s Advice Bureau (CAB), it is his bread and butter work. Cameron helps people understand their legal rights, a job which has become harder over the lockdown.
The workload has increased and there has been a flood of new advice from the Government across a range of issues such as employment and accommodation.
But Cameron doesn’t mind, devoting four to six hours a week to the organisation helpline, and another 10 to 12 helping people as part of CAB’s budget advice service.
‘‘It makes you feel good when you help people, you feel you’ve made a difference to people lives,’’ he says.
‘‘They are sitting at home in the lockdown, there are so many stresses to deal with, it’s a really nice feeling when you can give someone a really comprehensive answer which you know will make a difference.’’
Stuff is celebrating the coronavirus champions – including essential services workers and volunteers like Cameron – who are keeping New Zealand going through the lockdown.
Cameron started out at CAB while working as a project director for Spark. ‘‘Because I was working at that time, I could only do it at weekends, but once I gave up working I started doing it on a much more regular basis.’’
He says since the lockdown began, the numbers of calls to the organisation had increased and they were dealing with a lot of coronavirus-related questions.
Many people were calling in worried about their job security, and their financial situation. One woman had faced a ballooning power bill and reduced work hours.
Sometimes the work could be hard to shake off.
‘‘Quite often people have a situation that will not be easily resolved, so it can be emotionally draining,’’ he says.
‘‘People become volunteers for things like this because they care about people, so by its very nature, you think about them and wonder whether there is more you can do to help them.’’
CAB volunteers don’t work from memory. ‘‘We constantly refer to our bible, which is the CAB intranet.’’ The information is kept up-to-date to ensure volunteers were giving out accurate information. ‘‘It’s changing all the time, particularly [Finance Minister] Grant Robertson has changed quite a lot to do with financial benefits and employment.’’
The 2600 volunteers across the country are dealing with about double the number of calls and questions via online chat than normal. ‘‘We have been very busy, and I don’t see volumes reducing any time soon.’’