Supporting recovery

Volunteers play an important role in community recovery. Following emergencies such as natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, communities can take years to recover and volunteers are involved in much of that community-based work.

When a crisis strikes – particularly shock events that are sudden in nature – there is understandably an outpouring of support from the local community. This includes many who want to contribute by offering their time in a volunteer capacity.

However, often during the initial stage of a crisis community organisations are fully focused on the emergency response and cannot spare the resources to effectively register or deploy new volunteers. There needs to be coordinated systems in place to process offers of help from the public, including allocating people to organisations, matching their skills with the needs of impacted communities and overseeing their efforts.

► This is where weVolunteer can help.

Volunteer roles

All communities are different, so there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to community recovery. Affected communities will each have different needs and impacts following a crisis, which may also change over time.

Below are some examples of community recovery roles commonly available through weVolunteer:

Essential Services

Activities that are crucial for preserving life, health, public safety and societal functioning within affected communities.

Examples:

  • Disaster relief
  • Clean-up
  • Food preparation & service
  • Driving & transportation

Social Support

Providing assistance or comfort to individuals in affected communities, to enhance quality of life and reduce the impact of adverse life events.

Examples:

  • Mental health support
  • Disability & aged care
  • Welfare checks
  • Companionship

Community Projects

Services and initiatives designed to utilise community goodwill for enhancing the welfare of the local community.

Examples:

  • Mentoring
  • Migrant services
  • Environmental projects
  • Fundraising & events

Specialist Skills

Roles that enable volunteers to apply their professional knowledge, skills or expertise in a particular field to support community recovery.

Examples:

  • Logistics & trades
  • IT & web development
  • Social work
  • Volunteer management

Ready to become a community recovery volunteer?

Register here