Volunteer saw benefit of volunteers

Juliana Sargeant always thought she was too busy to volunteer.

But when the South Canterbury woman saw first hand the importance of volunteering, after she was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, she decided to get involved.

In the past few weeks, volunteers and the vital work they do has been celebrated in South Canterbury with two events.

Joining in the celebrations was Sargeant, now a South Canterbury Plunket co-ordinator, who shared her story to the 50 attendees at Volunteering Mid and South Canterbury’s 15-year anniversary event.

‘‘Everyone’s too busy these days, too busy working, too busy earning money, but there’s always things you can do,’’ Sargeant said.

‘‘Obviously being a mum of three, it’s hard to find the time to do anything.’’

However, several years ago, she needed help looking after her three children, then aged 4, 2 and 5 months, when her husband was working full-time, and she was living with cancer.

‘‘We weren’t in a position financially to get childcare for the kids, especially with three kids.

‘‘At the time, we had lots of social workers come to see if we could apply for benefits, but the only option was for my husband to resign and receive a benefit that way.

‘‘That was obviously not going to happen.’’

Instead, three volunteers from Plunket helped out with looking after the children, either playing games, going outside or doing crafts, as well as light housework.

‘‘I don’t know how we would’ve coped otherwise.

‘‘Just to have a few hours a week off, it was enough to help us get a break.’’

After receiving this support and moving into recovery, Sargeant returned to Plunket in 2020, this time offering her time to support other families.

‘‘I always thought that after the help we had it was really important to give someone else that.

‘‘It’s really rewarding, it’s that good feeling when you help out, and you’re not expecting anything back but seeing the positive difference you make just by being there.’’

Sargeant continued volunteering for the organisation, and about a year ago she became its volunteer co-ordinator.

At the moment, Plunket has 17 volunteers giving their time to other South Canterbury families.

Since the organisation is funded entirely by grants and community donations, volunteers are vital to keep it going, but things have been trickier during the pandemic, Sargeant said.

‘‘The pandemic has made it difficult, people have to look after themselves first.’’

‘‘It’s quite hard to maintain volunteers.’’

Sargeant said the organisation must ‘‘constantly be recruiting’’ to keep providing the support she received to other families.

‘‘It’s important to always have new people coming through, who can offer different days and times.’’

A quarter of Plunket’s volunteers come from Volunteering Mid & South Canterbury, which matches people interested in volunteering with organisations that require their skill set.

Volunteering Mid and South Canterbury manager Haidee Woods said that in 2021 the organisation referred 444 people to organisations needing volunteers.

Yesterday, Volunteering Mid and South Canterbury hosted a networking and information sharing event with six of its member and donor organisations, including Age Concern South Canterbury, Arowhenua Whā nau Services, YMCA Mid and South Canterbury, Family Works, Multicultural Aoraki and Community Trust.

‘‘It will be good for eventual collaboration with other organisations,’’ Woods said.

‘‘One of the services we provide is networking events.’’

Juliana Sargeant was a cancer patient with three young children when she witnessed first hand the work of volunteers. After moving into recovery she joined the band of South Canterbury volunteers.