The busy team at Volunteering Central has hit the ground running with its response during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Since alert level four began Volunteering Central has been helping with everything from providing emotional support to isolated or anxious older residents; helping people with pharmacy pick ups and grocery shopping to those in need; and assisting council welfare teams; all the while dealing with a huge influx of new people offering to volunteer.

“Our workload has pretty much doubled in the last month,” Volunteering Central senior coordinator Gillian White said. 

The organisation exists to help increase volunteering uptake in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes and to support community organisations and non-profits. 

They’re working through the almost 500 offers of help from volunteers from across Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes. “We've had a phenomenal response and currently more volunteers than needed,” Gillian said. 

“We've kept in touch with those that have signed up and thanked them and asked that they are patient,” she said. “We're in this for the long haul and needs will continue to rise so we will call on them when needed.”

Volunteering Central has an agreement with the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) to support it in the event of an emergency, and it is also working with the Central Otago District Council, providing the same type of support there. 

“Much of our time has been taken up ensuring volunteering...is taking place safely - with regards to the virus, but also keeping volunteers and the individuals they are supporting safe, ensuring appropriate boundaries are in place and safety measures are set up for paying for groceries [and things of that nature],” Gillian said. 

Gillian pointed out that many of the problems people need help with cannot be solved with volunteers. 

“Although Queenstown Lakes has received thousands of requests for support most of these are related to accommodation or finance,” she said.

The Salvation Army and the QLDC’s emergency operation centre help with those requests in the Queenstown Lakes, she said. Volunteering Central’s role in that setting is “identifying, assessing and screening volunteers to work on [QLDC’s] needs assessment team.”

“We are passing them waves of ten volunteers to induct so they can assist in getting through all the needs assessment calls,” Gillian said. 

Many of the organisations Volunteering Central normally works with have paused or altered the way they deliver their programmes, Gillian said. “People are focusing on the organisation's immediate needs and where possible running remotely.”

Helping shoppers in need with grocery deliveries has been an important part of Volunteering Central’s role during the pandemic. Wanaka business Ridgeline Adventures offered their fleet of vehicles and staff to support the response. 

“We are extremely grateful to Mark Orbell and his team in helping to get essential deliveries out to our vulnerable members of the community,” Gillian said. 

Volunteering Central also holds regular (virtual) meetings to stay up to date with local councils, their emergency teams and volunteering groups nationally.

Gillian said QLDC’s response to the crisis has been excellent. 

“Seeing what is happening at a national level with other volunteer centres, it's clear that the QLDC had to respond to a very urgent need for welfare support and they have been working flat out to ensure it's coordinated and effective.”

Despite the uncertainty of the near future, and how busy they are right now, Volunteering Central is looking ahead. It is surveying organisations that involve volunteers to see how their programmes are likely to be affected as a result of COVID-19, thinking about the future of volunteering and how best to ensure there are a range of opportunities available to people. 

If you’re part of an organisation that includes volunteers, help Volunteering Central by filling in the survey here.

If you’re somebody in the community struggling to meet your basic needs, sign up for assistance here.

“We are keen to ensure everyone who needs help reaches out to get it,” Gillian said.