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Our Volunteers

Little Haven has a dedicated band of over 100 volunteers who work across a wide range of areas: patient support, assisting in the chemotherapy unit, cleaning & maintenance, office support and playing an essential role in raising much needed funds.

Little Haven volunteers are specifically trained for their roles and as an organisation we comply with the Australian Standards for Volunteering.

How You Can Help

Whether you choose to assist by becoming directly involved in patient care through offering respite care or our chemotherapy support team, or indirectly through fundraising or by working in the office or serving on our Committee of Management, your gift of time enables Little Haven to make a difference to the lives of those facing their toughest hour.

To help you find your niche in our organisation, we offer every new volunteer Orientation training followed by one-on-one  mentoring until you are fully confident in your new role, then ongoing training and refresher courses to help you maintain your edge. For specialist roles such as respite care or chemotherapy ward support, you will be required to undertake further education before you can begin working in these areas.

At Little Haven, you can make a  significant contribution to the well-being of your community, through the precious gift of your time. If you’d like to apply to become a Little Haven volunteer please click here

 

One of our long-term Volunteers remembers the good old days:

Being relatively new to Gympie I was intrigued by the press coverage given to Little Haven and by the many cheerful ladies selling raffle ticket in the local shopping centres on their behalf. A “Spanish Inquisition” took place with one such fund raiser who filled in some of the gaps & sent me off home armed with what literature was available on the brilliant service provided by staff & volunteers within our community. I guess my initial interest was somewhat selfish. I have a very dear friend suffering from emphysema & leukaemia which is not a problem at this stage. How would I cope if & when his condition deteriorated to the extent that I was unable to take care of his day to day requirements alone?

Not wishing to face the reality unprepared for when that might eventuate, I decided to join the L.H.Volunteers helping where I could & discover how the real world faces crisis.

Soon I was contacted to assist in the office with a mail out for the Fashion Extravaganza. I duly arrived mid morning to folding, licking & sticking when someone suggested that I might consider looking after the store rooms which I thought not to be beyond my capabilities. Narelle, having shown me the ropes, had her own dilemma of finding someone to care for a patient to allow her carers time to shop etc. No doubt you have guessed, Stamp Licker at 11am, Store Keeper by noon & Relief Worker around 1.30pm. The money is non-existent but you sure reach the giddy heights before you know what has struck you. I have also experienced the joys of judging a Baby Show with babes ranging from zero to 80ish. Sandwich-a-thon at the Muster seemed to prove that Jill & I were capable of making sandwiches only under supervision. Hopefully our efforts were not in vain.

I am enjoying my respite work & find pleasure in relieving, if only a little, of the burden of those tending their loved ones. A few hours of my time are a well earned break for them & their gratitude is quite overwhelming making me wish that there was more that I could do for them.

You only have to volunteer once at L.H. after which you live in constant dread of the ringing telephone signalling a strike from the “Press Gang” thus throwing one into a whirlwind of activity &, at the same time, meeting many wonderful people but, CARD MAKING, well that’s another story!!!!

Thank you one & all for accepting me into your circle of friendship & frenzy thus creating, for me, a life with more Fulfilment & Purpose.

Christine