It’s good to do good
When we look at research around health benefits for people volunteering and hear stories from volunteers of how their lives have been changed, we can safely say ‘‘it is good to do good’’.
Volunteering Canterbury is committed to enabling people to have worthwhile volunteering experiences.
We also recognise that if people get those types of experiences when they are younger, they are more likely to continue.
As such, we were delighted to be approached by Christ’s College to assist putting together projects for a new programme at the school this year, Year 10
Service Week.
From November 19-23, 130 of the school’s Year 10 boys were engaged in a wide range of activities around the city – folding and sorting donated curtains at the Curtain Bank, packaging food for distribution at 0800 Hungry and St Vincent de Paul, spreading mulch and planting at community gardens, removing graffiti, and some conservation work in local reserves.
Christ’s College assistant principal Neil Porter says the concept of helping others is at the heart of Service Week.
‘‘Service is one of Christ’s College’s core values and we are making a concerted effort to engage our boys in service activities throughout their time with us,’’ he says. ‘‘The hope is that they will appreciate how much they can gain from helping others and will look to continue to do so later in life.’’
The organisations were extremely positive about the contributions the teams made. And for the lads, it didn’t seem to matter whether they were shovelling mulch, folding curtains or assembling Christmas trees or tents, they really embraced the opportunity to get involved.
My hope is the students will take some time to reflect on their contributions and recognise a wider context than just the organisations that hosted them.
For example, the groups contributed hundreds of hours to identifiable United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The United Nations established these goals in 2016 to mobilise global efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change.
The Christ’s College teams definitely made a contribution to Goal 1, no poverty; Goal 2, zero hunger; Goal 7, affordable and clean energy; and Goal 15, life on land.
They also had some fun at the same time.