Celebrating National Volunteer Week

As part of National Volunteer Week celebrations, we hosted a morning tea in our Adelaide office.

It was great to see a good turn-out, introduce our volunteers to estara’s CEO Nicole Sykes who presented a special 20-year service award to estara volunteer Paul Griffin. Paul has been based at the QWERTY Digital & Recreational Hub at The Repat.

Paul’s volunteering and connection with QWERTY began when he was an inpatient in the Hampstead Spinal Injury Unit. He started volunteering in the early days, long before smartphones and iPads, when laptops were loaned out to inpatients to help them stay connected with friends and family. From those beginnings, Paul has remained a constant and valued presence and his contribution over two decades is deeply appreciated.

Volunteering Quick Facts

• We currently have 34 volunteers!

• Our volunteers do a mix of activities including dog walking, handywork and maintenance, gardening, home visiting and calls and providing advice as part of our Consumer Advisory Panel

• Around 30% of our volunteers have lived experience of SCI

• 30% of our volunteers have also been supporting our clients for more than 10 years

Check out some stories from our volunteers Kay and Ros, and client Tracey on the link below.