Published 17 June 2022

National Volunteer Week 2022

This week at Sustainability Trust we are stoked to have a chance to celebrate some of our favourite people: volunteers! National Volunteer Week Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu 2022 is all about honouring the collective energies and mana of all volunteers in Aotearoa.

While we never need an excuse to boast about our volunteers at the Trust, this week we'll be spotlighting some legendary people and hearing their reasons for putting their unpaid time, energy and skills to work for the greater good.

The theme of this Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu / National Volunteer week is: ‘Time to Shine / He wā pīataata.’ Let’s take the time to reflect / whaiwhakaaro on all those who give mahi aroha / volunteer for their communities. It’s a time to recognise and celebrate volunteers, a time to shine / pīataata. It’s Matariki, a new year and a fresh start; a time to dream / moemoeā and make plans for the future.

As Volunteer Coordinator for Sustainability Trust, I've seen firsthand how meaningful volunteering can be. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and bring with them such valuable insights, experiences and perspectives. The volunteers at Sustainability Trust consistently demonstrate that sustainable change starts from within. Volunteering is a way to take abstraction and turn it into one small action. Volunteering offers a channel out of the freeze state, melting us back into aliveness where we can act on what we believe in. If you are someone who struggles with climate anxiety or climate depression, doing one small thing in recognition of a need can go a long way. When we embody the change that we want to see in the world, we are daring ourselves and those around us to imagine a new future and bring that into the now. Only through transforming ourselves can we transform the world. This kind of community mobilisation has already brought us a long way - volunteers are at the forefront of climate action, and not just by leading the marches to Parliament, but by bringing new ways of doing things into their own homes. Collective change starts with one action at a time, no matter how small. 

One of the biggest myths that stop us from living in our values is that we are alone. Isolation leaves us thinking that we can't possibly do enough, that our actions don't amount to anything of significance. Volunteering reminds us of a fundamental principle: that we are all connected. Through the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the way we get to work everyday - we are all interconnected through a web of social and environmental infrastructure. Recognising this is our biggest strength. Our volunteers aren't just joining the Trust, they're joining a movement of people bringing to life sustainable practices around the world, in Aotearoa and here in Wellington.  

So if you want to be apart of contributing to a more sustainable future, I really encourage to try your hand at volunteering. You can be apart of building a community that values care for each other now, for our mokopuna and for Papatūānuku. Check us out at https://sustaintrust.org.nz/volunteer-wellington and keep your eyes peeled for more celebratory volunteer content being released this week!  

#NVW2022 #mahitahi #teamwork #tautoko #support #whakamiha #appreciate #volunteers #thankyou #AotearoaOfKindness