Volunteer Week movie night

In recognition of its over 6,000 volunteers, the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is hosting a movie night for these wonderful people on Thursday 20 May at Events Cinemas, Kotara.

National Volunteer Week (NVW) runs from 17-23 May with a theme of: Recognise. Reconnect. Reimagine.

The Diocese night is a catered event starting at 5.30. The screening is June Again, featuring Noni Hazlehurst, Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry.

NVW is Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteers, who number almost six million and dedicate more than 600 million hours to help others.

It is time to recognise, celebrate and thank volunteers for the vital role they play in our lives; reconnect to what is important by giving our time to help others and ourselves; and reimagine how we better support volunteers and communities they help. 

Never has this been more evident than after dealing with drought, devastating bushfires, floods and then a global pandemic. While many of us stayed home, volunteers continued to deliver essential services, organise food packages and offer care, comfort and more to support the well-being of Australians. Volunteers make our communities stronger, especially during times of need, crisis or isolation.

Since 2014, there has been a 20 per cent decline in the number of volunteer hours in Australia. In the current changing environment, Australians are time-poor and experiencing higher degrees of uncertainty and stress. We need to reimagine how we do things. We need to collaborate more and adapt our volunteering practices and programs so we can better support and engage volunteers to continue the necessary work they do.

Get in quick for the Volunteer Week movie night. It is sure to be a popular event. Please email your RSVP to volunteers@mn.catholic.org.au by Friday 14 May, or call (02) 4979 1384. 

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