Volunteering

MDHSS has over 50 volunteers assisting the organisation in many of its programs and services. MDHSS is well supported by many people in the community who offer their skills and friendship to assist the staff and clients in a diverse range of centre based activities and out in the community.

MDHSS is committed to increasing the level of community participation by providing opportunities for volunteering within the organisation. Volunteers assist MDHSS to achieve its goals and in return volunteers gain new skills and form different friendships. Formal volunteering is an activity which takes place in not-for-profit organisations or projects and is undertaken:

• to benefit the community and the volunteer
• of the volunteer's own free will and without coercion
• for no financial payment
• in designated volunteer's positions only

Volunteering

• is based on personal motivation and choices, freely undertaken
• is a way of furthering active citizenship and community involvement
• takes the form of individual or group activities generally carried out within the framework of an organisation
• enhances human potential and the quality of daily life, building up human solidarity
• provides answers for the greatest challenges of our time, striving for a better and more peaceful world
• contributes to the vitality of economic life, even creating jobs and new professions

Principles of Volunteering

• Volunteering benefits the community and the volunteer
• Volunteering is always a matter of choice
• Volunteering is an activity that is unpaid and not undertaken for the receipt of salary, pension, government allowance or honorarium
• Volunteering is a vehicle for individuals or groups to address human, environmental and social needs
• Volunteering is an activity performed in the not-for-profit sector only
• Volunteers do not replace paid workers nor constitute a threat to the job security of paid workers
• Volunteering respects the rights, dignity and culture of others
• Volunteering promotes human rights and equality

If you would like to apply to become an MDHSS Volunteer, download the Volunteer Application Form and the Volunteer Privacy and Confidentiality Agreement.

As a key element of the selection process for volunteers, police checks will be conducted in accordance with these principles and appropriate legislation.

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