Charities are urging eager Christmas volunteers to spread their goodwill throughout the year, as they grapple with a shrinking volunteer pool and increasing demand.
The community sector has long experienced a boom in people wanting to give back around the festive season.
St Benedict’s Community Centre, which provides hot meals to disadvantaged residents in the New South Wales town of Queanbeyan, is accustomed to turning down offers from would-be volunteers on Christmas Day.
Coordinator Elaine Lollback said visitors to the St Benedict’s Community Centre needed year-round support. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
“A lot of people want to do something particular on the 25th of December,” coordinator Elaine Lollback said.
“I suspect that’s because they need human connection and are wanting to do something around it.
“But it is hard — that’s only one day out of a whole year.
“A lot of the issues that people face don’t get a break, don’t go away.”
Ms Lollback said donating food or money could be a more helpful way to give back to frontline support services all year round, as they are being stretched by the cost-of-living crisis.
Ms Lollback loves the human connections formed through St Benedict’s Community Centre. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
Falling volunteer rates
VolunteeringACT said the enthusiasm to help at Christmas bucked a broader national trend of falling volunteerism rates.
“We do receive a surge of enquiries in the lead up to Christmas with families, particularly those with children, wanting to give back at this really hard time of year,” chief executive Jean Giese said.
“We never want to discourage people from volunteering [but] what we would say is that most volunteering roles that happen over Christmas Day and the ones preceding it are usually locked away a fair while in advance.”
Many charities which struggle to find enough volunteers throughout the year are inundated with volunteers on Christmas Day. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
Ms Giese said for the rest of the year, volunteering roles were much more challenging to fill.
“With the decline of formal volunteering, a lot of organisations who historically have had really strong volunteering bases and indeed waiting lists, are no longer experiencing that,” she said.
She said time and costs were the biggest barriers.
“People are out of pocket about $12 an hour for every hour that they volunteer, and that’s a really difficult thing for people to sustain,” Ms Giese said.
VolunteeringACT CEO Jean Giese said Christmas Day was the one day bucking the broad trend of decreasing volunteering. (ABC News: Joel Wilson)
‘Feel good year-round’
Vinnies Night Patrol, a service which offers food, drinks and material aid across Canberra every night of the year, relies on a network of about 240 volunteers.
The charity has seen a 19 per cent increase in people coming to their vehicles for assistance since the last financial year.
Vinnies Night Patrol coordinator Colette Neumann said cold, wet windy nights in winter were the hardest times to find volunteers. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
At the same time, coordinator Colette Neumann said the service had experienced a decrease in volunteers and those able to pick up shifts at late notice.
“We can certainly use volunteers around Christmas time, but we definitely need volunteers throughout the whole year to help us run the program,” she said.
“It does become difficult to fill shifts in the middle of winter when it’s raining — it’s not necessarily pleasant to be out in the cold.”
Vinnies Night Patrol volunteer Mike Brennan with a Christmas hamper the charity gives out during the festive season. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)
As the charity prepares for another Christmas on the road, Ms Neumann has also encouraged people to consider spreading their generosity across the year.
“When everybody goes on holidays and you have leave from work so you’ve got the time, you want to feel good, so you offer to volunteer,” Ms Neumann said.
“That’s great, but definitely look into what it would mean to sustain it.
“That good feeling doesn’t have to go away when Christmas does.
“You can keep doing it and feel good year-round.”