Staff and students can sign up to take part in Good Mahi this Friday via the Social Impact Studio's website .
The inaugural Good Mahi - a student and staff community volunteering day this Friday - is being held to give anyone at the University of Otago’s Ōtepoti campus the chance to volunteer.
Social Impact Studio manager Sze-En Watts says their UniCrew team and OUSA have worked together to host the event.
The Studio has sourced a range of activities from different volunteer organisations around Ōtepoti which staff and students can sign up to volunteer at via the Social Impact Studio’s website.
Pregnancy Help needs assistance with sorting through donated baby items, while Foster Hope Otago will have volunteers putting together backpacks and toiletry packs for foster children, she says.
“We have a number of outdoorsy planting and gardening activities for people because those initiatives need lots of hands.”
A group of people will be needed to help Save the Otago Peninsula Trust with putting in native plants while Community Hospice Otago would welcome some extra hands with tidying up its garden.
“Give to Grow is a newer organisation that we would like to help raise the profile of. They source excess gardening tools, refurbish them and redistribute them to people who would like to grow their own food but need a bit of help with the resourcing.”
Sze-En says she loves that the Studio can help connect the university community with small “less top-of-the-mind” organisations.
One of the aims of Good Mahi is to simplify the process of volunteering, she says. Sometimes the administration and logistics associated with volunteering can be a barrier that puts people off.
“We can organise the transport, the project, all you have to do is sign up and show up ready to get stuck in.”
The Studio does a lot of work helping first year students in colleges volunteer during O-Week, but once students are in second year it’s mostly up to them to organise their own volunteer experience, Sze-En says.
The Studio has also received feedback from staff who would like to get involved but weren’t sure what opportunities were available. With staff social impact leave having been made official by the University last year, staff are now able to take a day of paid leave to spend the day volunteering.
“We thought with that available for staff, why not try something that’s open to staff and students!”
-Kōrero by Internal Communications Adviser, Koren Allpress