A HUGE thank you to the following organisations who attended MUPPITS Volunteering Expo Night 2021:

• • Sudanese Saturday School
  • Ronald McDonald House Charities
  • Embrace Education
  • Interchange Outer East
  • Very Special Kids
  • Happy Brain Education

CLICK HERE to view our 2021 Volunteering Opportunities Summary Brochure!

SUDANESE SATURDAY SCHOOL

Sudanese Saturday School has been running for over 10 years through the support of Anglicare Victoria and the St Peter’s Anglican Parish, Box Hill.

Our team of volunteers support the learning and growth of our awesome primary to high school students and their migrant and/or refugee families.

With our amazing team of volunteers, we aim to support students in their schooling needs, social growth and awareness, developmental and physical learning and milestones as they pertain to schooling. We began working with primary aged students, and in recent years, have expanded to support kindergarten and high school students, as well as the parents.

Positions open: Tutors, helpers, admin assistants, drivers, librarians, kitchen helpers (No experience necessary)

Recruitment Period: Apply by 17 April 2021 to start as soon as May 2021

APPLY HERE: http://www.sailprogram.org.au/Pulse/signup.php?option=Box%20Hill

Contact: Facebook page or email [email protected]

Click here for further information about volunteering

 EMBRACE EDUCATION

We are a non-profit, university student-run organisation that offers free educational support to disadvantaged high school students in Melbourne, Victoria. Our main focus is on providing students from refugee, asylum seeker, recent migrant and low socioeconomic backgrounds with free tutoring. We run programs including Homework Clubs, In-School Tutoring, IndividualTutoring and Online Tutoring.

Our vision: Our mission is to inspire and empower disadvantaged students to realise their potential through education, and for every person to have access to a quality education, regardless of background or circumstance.

Positions open:Educational support for low SES high school students including tutors

Recruitment Period: All year long, no experience necessary

APPLY HERE: https://www.embrace-education.org/copy-of-application-form-monash

Contact: Bethany: [email protected]

Click here for further information about volunteering

Click here for our volunteering information flyer 

HAPPY BRAIN EDUCATION

Happy Brain Education is a non-for-profit organisation which provides tutoring and mentoring services to young people. We also involve them in impactful, meaningful social projects. We are a social movement of young people seeking to make the world a more equitable, just and benevolent place. We strive to achieve this through empowering young people to achieve their potential, fundraising for worthwhile causes and working on socially impactful projects.

At HBE, we believe that it is those who have experienced social disadvantage who have the deepest insight into the need to create change for future generations. Our mission is to empower those people through providing them with high quality academic support, mentoring and involving them in practical learning through social projects.

HBE seeks to work with other organisations in the same space and to collaborate with parents, schools, governments, businesses and other stakeholders to maximise the benefits to young people.

HBE seeks to work with other organisations to help rediscover the purpose of education and mould the education system to fit the needs of the 21st century.

Positions open: Tutors, operations team member (admin), partnerships officer, wellbeing officer, program officer

Recruitment period (Note: min. of 12 months volunteering commitment)

• • 1st intake 23/01 – 28/02

• • • 2nd intake: 25/06 – 25/07
  • Ongoing recruitment for tutors

APPLY HERE:  https://bit.ly/3g7ar3I

Click here for further information about volunteering

INTERCHANGE OUTER EAST

Interchange Outer East (IOE) is a non profit, community based organisation which supports families who have a child or young person with a disability, living in Melbourne’s outer eastern regions.

They have a strong belief in engaging young people in the organisation by forming connections and creating volunteering opportunities to build more inclusive communities. Not only does meaningful volunteering provide young people with the opportunity to develop themselves personally, it helps develop both the professional and practical aspects of their study. Most importantly volunteering at Interchange provides great flexibility, they don’t require a certain amount of hours each week from their volunteers, they just ask that you help out when and where you can on programs that interest you.

Positions open: Home, hospital, hospice, recreational activities, we recruit all year round.

Recruitment period: Term 3: Wed nights (7-9pm) from 21st July – 29th September via ZOOM (No experience necessary)

APPLY HERE: https://tinyurl.com/IOEmuppits

Contact: Volunteer coordinators: [email protected] or call 03 9758 5522

Click here for more information about volunteering

VERY SPECIAL KIDS

Very Special Kids cares for children with life-threating conditions by providing respite and end of life care in our hospice, as well as professional family support services including counselling, advocacy and support programs. Our services are free-of-charge and each family is supported from diagnosis all the way through to recovery or bereavement. Sadly, many of the children we care for will not reach adulthood.

Positions open: Family services – home, hospital and hospice. Looking for rural volunteers

Recruitment Period: ASAP

• • Mandatory training nights in Term 3 (Wed nights)

• 2-4 hours per week/fortnight/month for 12 month commitment

APPLY HERE: Email Melanie: [email protected] (note: only 25 places left)

Contact: Melanie – [email protected]

Click here for more information about volunteering

RONALD McDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES

Ronald McDonald House Charities aims to support the ever-changing needs of seriously ill children and their families. They hope to achieve the best outcomes for families by reducing the impact of their child’s illness.

They provide 18 houses near hospitals for families who have to travel far, 19 family rooms in hospital for families to take a break from the wards, 5 family retreats to allow families to relax and reconnect and a learning program to help kids catch-up on missed education.

Positions open: Multiple in-house and in-family room positions including cooking, gardening, cleaning, family interactions and more

Recruitment Period: Open all year. To apply, visit their website. There will be mandatory interviews, police checks and an induction prior to starting

Contact: Sharnna: [email protected]

Click here for more information about volunteering

Check out some of our organisations from past years below!

CANTEEN

CanTeen is the game changer when it comes to cancer. We help young people cope with cancer in their family. Through CanTeen, they learn to explore and deal with their feelings about cancer, connect with other young people in the same boat and if they’ve been diagnosed themselves, we also provide specialist, youth-specific treatment teams. By feeling understood and supported, young people develop resilience and can rebuild the foundations that crumbled beneath them when cancer turned their life upside down. That’s how CanTeen is the difference.

CanTeen works by having young people at the centre of everything we do. We were set up by a group of young cancer patients in 1985 and still have young people affected by cancer guiding the organisation at every level. Combined with our leading edge research into the emotional and social impacts of cancer, it ensures that we truly understand how cancer is different in a young person’s world.

To find out more about how you can volunteer withv CanTeen, click here 

 TRY MENTORING

At TRY, we know firsthand that mentoring changes lives! TRY Mentoring successfully connects at-risk and vulnerable young people aged 7-20 years old with a positive adult role model, and supports volunteers to empower, guide and listen to young people as a fully trained mentor. Sometimes, we all need someone to help us see the possibilities ahead, and to put us on a path for success.

We believe it is incredibly important to empower, support, and listen to the voices of young people especially if they face generational issues of disadvantage. By intervening positively in a young person’s life, we change outcomes for a community.

TRY offers personal development training days for all mentors, which empowers them with greater knowledge in how to communicate and support young people who are classified as at-risk or vulnerable; in fact, 75% believe the TRY training sessions were beneficial to their development as a TRY Mentor.

Want to become a mentor? Click here for more details.

 .     STARLIGHT

Starlight Express Room – Monash Children’s Hospital:

The Starlight Express Room is a medical free zone in the MCH, it is a place for children, young people and families to relax and forget about their experience. There are lots of activities in the SER such as arts and crafts, games, books and toys. The volunteers are responsible for greeting visitors and assisting with activity facilitation. We recruit for this role twice a year and I am currently completing the second recruitment. We require all volunteers to go through a full process this includes interviews, reference checks, police check, Working with Children Check and training. We also require volunteer to commit to weekly/fortnightly shifts for at least 6-8months. This opportunity is great for those looking to gain experience working with children in a hospital environment. Volunteers must be at least 18 years old to participate in this program.

Events Volunteering:

Starlight is a non-for-profit organisation with no government funding this means that we rely heavily on the donated dollar. For this reason we run a number of fundraising events and volunteers really help increase the impact of these events. This year Starlight has been chosen as the charity of choice by the Victorian Racing Club for the Melbourne Cup! We need a large number of volunteers on each race day to sell pins and shake tins. This may be a great opportunity to get involved in as a team and use as a team building exercise.

So – How do I sign up?

Volunteer registrations for events are through My Starlight, our online volunteer community. Please go to https://my.starlight.org.au/my-starlight and scroll down to SIGN UP TO MY STARLIGHT to create a profile if you haven’t already. Once logged in, hover over the MY STARLIGHT tab, scroll down and click on EVENTS, this will bring up the events calendar for the country. Find the event you are interested in (events are in chronological order and you can filter by State to narrow your search. Click READ MORE and then once in the event click I’M AVAILABLE TO VOLUNTEER and complete the RSVP form. You will receive a full event brief upon registration.

 .    INTERCHANGE

Interchange supports agencies that offer volunteer-supported services that provide family respite and social opportunities for children and young people with a disability.

Interchange supports a network of agencies across Victoria by:

• provision of information and resources
• marketing and promotion of agencies and their programs
• provision of professional development opportunities
• facilitation of networking and partnering opportunities
• attraction and engagement of volunteers to assist in meeting the needs of people with a disability and their families
• advocating for sector improvement

Our Vision: To be part of a community that shares the responsibility for the wellbeing of all, celebrates and promotes difference and strives for inclusiveness and choice.

Our Mission: Interchange assists its members to build inclusive communities and to develop responsive services which enhance the quality of life for individuals and families impacted by disability.

Want to be part of The Change? Click here.

 .    POSSIBLE DREAMS INTERNATIONAL

Possible Dreams International, Inc is a non-profit organisation which partners with rural and remote communities in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland), Southern Africa to empower families and individuals living with extreme poverty, malnutrition and endemic disease.

PDI envisions a future where rural communities in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland) are able to transcend the insidious cycle of disease and poverty, to lead healthy, independent, dignified lives with sufficient food, clean water, sanitation, income and security. We partner with rural communities in the Kingdom of Eswatini (Swaziland) to improve health through a strategy of upholding dignity, emergency relief aid, and sustainability projects.

Want to get involved? Click here.

 MUMUS TEDDY BEAR HOSPITAL

Teddy Bear Hospital is a world-wide program that exposes primary school students to medical environments in a fun, educational way. It is designed to alleviate the “white coat anxiety” often associated with visiting doctors, whilst promoting a healthy lifestyle.

MUMUS Teddy Bear Hospital was first founded in 2009 as part of the world-wide Teddy Bear Hospital program that aims to introduce primary school students to a medical environment and alleviate the “white coat anxiety” that often comes with a visit to the doctor’s office.

A completely medical student-run initiative, our MUMUS TBH family has grown over the years to include volunteers from all year levels, as well as a committee that works tirelessly to ensure the smooth running of each and every event.

Since our humble start in 2009, where we held a single Teddy Bear Hospital event in Gippsland, our program has expanded all across Victoria, where we host more than 20 events annually across a number of schools and year levels.

To get involved, ‘like’  our Facebook page and keep your eyes peeled for our next event!

Monash Children’s Hospital Volunteers

Events Volunteering:

We want the new Monash Children’s Hospital to be the best children’s hospital it can be. We need to raise funds to make this a special place for children and their families to receive the very best health care they need. Fundraising events help to raise significant funds for purchasing life-saving equipment, funding world-leading research and upgrading facilities. Volunteers are an integral part of the success of any fundraising event and we greatly appreciate the support and generosity of all volunteers.

For more information on Monash Children’s Hospital events and volunteering opportunities please email [email protected]