Our history
How we began
In May 1976 the first volunteer seminar was held in Albury
Wodonga. Twenty statutory and community welfare organisations were
represented at this inaugural meeting.
The meeting was generated by concern to promote the role of
volunteers as equal and essential partners in the community helping
process.
There was agreement on the need for improved communication and
coordination of local organisations utilising volunteers.
The Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau was
established as a result of this meeting.
The original aims of the VRB were:
- to provide training and ongoing support opportunities for
paid and volunteer workers
- to provide a better coordination of welfare services in
Albury/Wodonga, geared towards a 24 hour availability basis
- to improve the recruitment of manpower into community
organisations, and
- to develop a trust and understanding between all welfare
personnel in the region.
VRB was operated by volunteers until 1982 when a 16 hour per
week paid coordinator was appointed funded evenly by the N.S.W and
Vic. state governments. Incorporation status was received on 17th
September 1985.
The committee comprised of representatives from organisations
with volunteer programs, volunteers and interested members of the
community.
The role of the VRB at this point changed focus to concentrate
more on volunteer issues. The overall aim was to improve both the
quality and quantity of volunteer effort in the Albury Wodonga area.
The objectives were:
- developing a range of services aimed at
supporting and assisting agencies and groups which involve volunteers
in their programs
- agencies retain control over programs but benefit
from VRB input
- improving quality of volunteer involvement (selection,
training etc) and enlarging quantity, and
- ancillary backup service to
individuals and groups (information, support, training, consultation).
Volunteer Management program
The Volunteer Management program works in conjunction with the
Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau Inc. to provide a service
to:
1. Volunteers seeking work by:
- maintaining a register of volunteer options
- interviewing volunteers to identify their needs
- matching and referring volunteers to organisations, and
- providing volunteering training.
2. Non-profit community based organisations by:
- providing training to managers of volunteers
- consulting with and assisting organisations in planning
their volunteer
programs, and
- promoting and displaying the profile of registered
organisations.
3. The community by:
- developing the awareness of volunteerism, and
- providing information and resource material on volunteer
issues.
The Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau is a member of
the Association of Victorian Volunteer Resource Centres (AVVRC). A
volunteer resource centre
is a not for profit, independently managed,
community based organisation which subscribes to a code
of ethics and
the principles of volunteering.
The Volunteer Resource
Bureau aims to:
- resource and support volunteers to make informed choices
about
volunteer work
- maintain and make available up to date information on
community
agencies which involve volunteers
- refer, as opposed to recommend, volunteers to a wide range
of not for
profit agencies across all sectors of the community
- resource and support agencies involving volunteers
- develop an awareness in the community by acting as an
advocate for
volunteering and promoting the principles of volunteering
- work with other volunteer resource centres through the
national and
state centres to develop common standards of practice
- maintain adequate funding in order to provide a
comprehensive service
to volunteers and the community, and
- to work with other agencies to promote best practice
standards for
volunteer management.
In November 2006 Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau
received funding form the Department of Immigration and Citizenship
(DIAC) to offer settlement services in the Albury area. Later the same
year we moved to 596 Hume Street Albury NSW. In 2008 DIAC provide
funding to
run a citizenship support program aimed at supporting new migrant to
successfully pass the citizenship test.
The Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau has 150
organisations
listed of which a large proportion are in the welfare field, however,
there are many multicultural services, sporting clubs, educational
services, environmental groups and service clubs.
In 2011 the
Albury Wodonga Volunteer Resource Bureau continues to:
- promote the benefits of volunteering to the community
- training in Pathways to
volunteering and work
- support community organisations with training and the Way2Go
Toolkit for Volunteer Managers
- provide CALD resources
- to assist with multicultural services, and
- support new migrants to volunteer and gain experience in
the community.
Funding providers:
- Department of Family, Housing and Community Services
& Indigenous Affairs
- Department of Community Services (NSW)
- Department of Planning and Community Development
- Department of Immigration and Citizenship
- Adult, Community and Further Education (VIC)
