Giving a helping hand in Christchurch

Helping others has always been a part of who we are and what we do. We don't expect that to change just because we have retired, if anything, we now have even more time to volunteer. Even when we are traveling we love to do some volunteer work. We find it so enriching. You can read about some of our previous travel volunteer jobs at the end of this post.

Our talents and gifts don't disappear just because we reach a certain age. We may not want to work long hours again, that is our choice but we still want to be useful to society and give something back. As the saying goes, you get more out of it than you put into it.

At the end of September, Rob had the opportunity to go to Christchurch, New Zealand as part of a building mission trip with a team of about 19 from our church. They were to assist Spreydon Baptist Church in whatever areas they could especially with building some units for rehabilitation/retreat for ex prisoners.

The people of Spreydon Baptist Church have suffered greatly at the expense of the Christchurch earthquakes and numerous tremors since then. Yet they quietly get on with not only looking after their own parishioners but with the wider community

Various Volunteer organizations

There are many different volunteer organization and you can easily find one that suits your talents and personality. One doesn't need to have a trade, though this is certainly very welcome. One can just be a willing body, trimming bushes, cleaning windows, cooking a meal etc. Some organizations allow you a lot of flexibility as you travel and fit in various 'jobs' along the way. Others need a date commitment as they organize teams - often these are bigger and we are just a part of a wonderful team of volunteers. Some are responders to a crisis. You will be vetted and I assume all organizations do their own vetting of clients, though this depends upon many factors.
BCA Nomads (Bush Church Aid) helping churches in remote areas from gardening to building to haircuts and filing etc! This is our personal favourite.
MMM (Mobile Maintenance Missionaries) by providing building, maintenance and other practical services to people and Christian Organizations needing assistance
Outback Links  aims to give people living on the land in remote areas a helping hand
Blaze Aid helps families and individuals after a natural disaster. We haven't worked with this organization yet, though we have heard excellent reports of their work.

You can also help

Previous volunteer jobs

Some of the previous volunteer jobs we have done include assisting at various church usually cleaning and maintenance via an organization called BCA (Bush Church Aid). Many outback churches have a parish size that makes it very difficult and isolating for ministers and the parishioners to get support. Often times there is just not enough people in the church. A couple of jobs from working with BCA, included lifting lino and replacing a gutter at Roxby Downs. Another was installing play equipment and relocating the contents from an old shed into a new garage at the Underground Church in Coober Pedy.

We loved our stay at a youth camp ground called Wirraway, near Adelaide. Rob's building skills came in use here as they needed a pack kitchen installed in one of their cottages. This job was done through an agency called MMM (Mobile Maintenance Missionaries)

When we were in Queensland the last time, we joined up with Outback Links which aims at helping people in remote areas in various ways. We were allocated to assist on a cattle property, called Bogarella. There the young couple were struggling to find enough hours in the day. The house needed lots of little maintenance jobs done around the place and the young mum was glad to have someone help her catch up with jobs such as spring cleaning & ironing. In actuality I think, she really needed a distraction for her very energetic 4 year old boy, which I thoroughly enjoyed providing. We jumped on the trampoline and played lots of running games. I reckon I was smart as I worked out games where he had to run and I was not required to do anywhere near as much running! LOL It was a joy as it was like having one of my own grand kids with me for a bit!