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Volunteers helping to transform the lives of children in need through education

Media releases

17 May 2018

It can take as little as an hour a week of someone’s time to help a child succeed at school – and for thousands of disadvantaged children across Australia, that little bit of time makes all the difference.

This National Volunteer Week (21-27 May), The Smith Family is celebrating the significant contribution of our volunteers in building a better future for young Australians in need. The Smith Family is one of Australia’s largest volunteer organisations, with nearly 9,000 people generously donating their time, skills and energy each year to support our mission of helping disadvantaged children with their education.

“The Smith Family is absolutely indebted to our dedicated volunteers, including our corporate partners and VIEW Club members across the country. Last year, people collectively gave 465,000 hours of their time to support our work with thousands of children and families in need,” said Lauren Stocker, National Volunteering Manager at The Smith Family.

“Volunteers help with so many aspects of our work from critical back-end support to our retail stores to helping us deliver our learning and mentoring programs for children in highly disadvantaged communities. We simply couldn’t run these programs – or our organisation more broadly – without our volunteers.”

Ms Stocker said the benefits of volunteering go both ways, with 93 per cent of Smith Family volunteers saying they would recommend the experience to friends, family and colleagues.

“We often have volunteers telling us how amazing it is to see the difference they are making in children’s lives. Our volunteer tutors see children go from strength to strength with their learning, and our mentors talk about the joy of seeing students’ confidence and career aspirations grow over time,” Ms Stocker said.

Enlisting more volunteers over the coming years will be vital as The Smith Family climbs towards its goal of reaching thousands more students and families. At a time when people feel they have increased demands on their time, meeting the changing needs and expectations of volunteers is key.

“We have a really varied ‘menu’ of volunteering opportunities for people to choose from – from people who want that direct interaction with students participating in our programs to those who can offer a range of skills that will support our broader operations,” said Ms Stocker.

“We also know people are feeling busier than ever and so we’ve put a lot of work into making it easier to give back, including online volunteering and opportunities that only require 1-2 hours per week – but which can be absolutely life-changing for the young people we support.

“This National Volunteer Week, we hope others may consider giving their time and skills to support our work and to those already contributing, we say a huge thank you. We hope our volunteers feel incredibly proud of the part they play in helping to transform the lives of thousands of young Australians through education.”

For more information on volunteering opportunities at The Smith Family, please visit https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/get-involved/volunteer

Media contacts:

Andrew Dickson | National Media Manager (National) - 0421 285 529 | andrew.dickson@thesmithfamily.com.au
Carla Horton | Senior Media Advisor (QLD & WA) - 0423 618 776 | carla.horton@thesmithfamily.com.au
Reid Jermyn | Media Advisor (VIC, SA & NT) - 0412 803 566 | reid.jermyn@thesmithfamily.com.au
Ben Chenoweth | Senior Media Advisor (NSW, ACT & TAS) - 0413 346 934 | ben.chenoweth@thesmithfamily.com.au

The Smith Family is a national children’s education charity that helps young Australians experiencing disadvantage to create better futures for themselves through harnessing the power of education. We partner with around 800 Australian schools and work with over 162,000 children and young people experiencing disadvantage access our education support programs to help them overcome . For more information, visit thesmithfamily.com.au