Latest / The R4R Podcast: Road to Zero / If you can't find your purpose... give it to someone else

Transcript

If you can't find your purpose... give it to someone else · The R4R Podcast: Road to Zero

0:00
Thank you for coming in, Renee, from Rise Above.
0:02
CEO at the moment, the big dog. That's it.
0:04
Yeah. And Stu, those in the after our
0:07
community might know him as Godsend Stu.
0:10
He's come in and helped us with the volunteers and and quite a
0:14
bit of stuff in the back of house too.
0:16
So it's a pleasure having you here as well.
0:19
But this episode is for volunteer week, which we should
0:24
be smack bang in the middle of as this is released.
0:27
Renee, I don't know how much you know about Afra's story, but
0:32
volunteers or people just putting their shoulder to the
0:36
wheel, putting their effort in is at the heart of everything
0:41
AFRA does. And I'll give you a bit of a
0:43
story to begin with, because when we started, maybe it was
0:48
because we were too lazy to set up like a vehicle to accept
0:54
donations, but we were very adamant that we didn't want
0:58
donations. We wanted people to rock up and
1:02
just be at the events. We thought that effort was the
1:05
donation because when people gave effort, something magic
1:10
happened with like the interaction of the people at the
1:13
event, but also people got a return from it and they wanted
1:16
to keep coming back. And it's just served us so well
1:21
by unlocking those types of people with our community.
1:28
And I know that you would see it especially at Rise Above when we
1:34
had Murray, Ryan and Natalie on last year before the centre run.
1:38
And they spoke about how when in their darkest times, they made
1:44
contact with Rise Above and your volunteers met them so warmly.
1:54
Yeah, I think the word that you've used there that really
1:57
sticks out for me is the word community, which I think it's
2:00
thrown around so much, doesn't it?
2:01
You know, for to explain a collection of people coming
2:05
together or, or just where you live.
2:08
But the way that you have set Running for resilience up, I
2:13
think is very similar to the real essence of community that
2:17
makes Rise Above so special, which is that it is about
2:21
something really deeply human in the joy, like the deep, pure joy
2:26
that you get from helping someone else, from doing
2:30
something where you're not expecting anything in return.
2:33
And actually, I think what you get back in return is far more
2:36
valuable than any currency that you could get anywhere in the
2:39
world. So community is the thing I
2:44
think a lot of people are missing these days.
2:46
You know, our whole society used to be built on really deeply
2:51
connected communities, and we've lost a lot of that.
2:53
So if you can build something that's built on trust and built
2:57
on generosity, then people show up.
3:00
And what you bring out in people is the absolute best of
3:03
humanity. Yeah.
3:05
And Stu, I think you were saying just before we started this
3:08
podcast and I kind of want to go to it straight away, is the
3:13
benefit giving your time has and the ripple effect it can have.
3:19
So I'm not sure of the year, but we'll zoom back.
3:22
And it was Christmas time and we were going to, we were just
3:29
going into Christmas. And one of our volunteer
3:32
extraordinaires, Ellie, she said, I'll keep rocking up over
3:35
the break at the dock and we'll keep everyone coming in.
3:40
And Stu, I think that's your first ah for ah.
3:44
Wasn't my first ah for ah, it was just one that kept in memory
3:48
for me because it was during a very difficult time for me.
3:51
Actually, that was I think the Christmas Eve run and I got back
3:55
on my way back from Sydney. I had nothing to do.
3:57
I didn't have any family in in Canberra.
3:59
So I kind of just decided to on the literally on the road back
4:03
from Sydney, decided to turn up for ah for ah that night.
4:06
Didn't have any of my running gear with me and I just turned
4:08
up and having that community there on a on a time that, you
4:12
know, it's all about family and friends and connection and I
4:14
didn't have that at that point. It was just a really meaningful
4:18
run for me and I, yeah reflect on it often of that was also
4:21
before I really knew anyone. That was kind of just when I was
4:24
early into coming to AFRA where because when I started coming to
4:28
AFRA, I think we kind of talked about how it could be lonely in
4:30
the crowd, right. And we're, we're trying AFRA
4:33
ways to so I can navigate that through having volunteers with
4:37
spotters and and having those roles of time talk to people
4:40
that are looking a bit lonely. But I think this is just just
4:42
before all that was established. And so coming to these events,
4:46
not knowing anyone, it was yeah, it was, it's sometimes felt a
4:49
bit lonely, but I slowly found that community in connection
4:52
through our Farrar. You guys have been fantastic.
4:55
You know, I've only, I'm only quite new to running myself.
4:58
Our Farrar is what's actually kicked off my whole running
5:00
journey. I never ran before my entire
5:02
life. And I'm probably like the
5:04
fittest now that I've ever been in my entire life as well.
5:06
And I can honestly, so that's due to our for all because
5:10
running with people, running with community and it's not a
5:13
run club. It like we say, it's a community
5:15
and that sort of connection that you make after the running and
5:17
socialising and catching up with people and connecting with
5:19
people, it's an encouragement to keep coming back.
5:23
And so having that there and that Christmas Eve run and the
5:26
community that you guys do throughout really beneficial.
5:30
And I've seen first hand how beneficial it is.
5:31
And that's why I've also put my hand up to start volunteering
5:34
and and seeing how I can take that difference forward as well
5:38
and help other people that might be in need.
5:40
Well, let's let's just highlight that a bit because you do a lot
5:45
for AFRA and it makes a massive difference amongst a lot of
5:50
other people. What do you get out of
5:53
volunteering for AFRA? For AFRA, well, I could say the
5:57
same with because I do volunteer for quite a few different
6:00
charities and not for profits. I always say that I have
6:04
capacity to give and help others.
6:07
And so I want to use that capacity that I have to help
6:11
others that might be in need, those that might not have the
6:14
capacity themselves. And so it's about giving it
6:17
forward and paying it forward. It's not like I'm getting any
6:20
altruistic value in myself out of doing this or I have this
6:23
like good warm fuzzy feeling from volunteering.
6:25
It's just literally, I just feel like I have energy, I have
6:28
capacity, and I want to help. I feel like for me personally, I
6:32
feel like there's more to life than just like living in towards
6:35
a selfish purpose, if that makes sense.
6:37
Like, you know, going to work, earning money and just doing all
6:40
that just to get home at the end of the day.
6:42
I just want to do more. So yeah, I started volunteering
6:46
over 9 years ago when I signed up for Camp Quality and I've
6:49
been with them, yeah, nine years now.
6:52
And I just kind of slowly picked up more and more volunteering
6:54
over the time because I just always feel like there's more I
6:57
can give and more I can give, and I just want to keep giving
6:59
out that capacity to other people.
7:03
And you also give to rise above. Yeah, so it's actually a funny
7:09
story because it's R for R is how I found out about Rise
7:12
Above. So I've been with Cam Quality
7:14
nine years now. I've been with Canteen.
7:16
So Cam Quality is assisting young children impacted through
7:21
cancer, Canteen is young adults impacted through cancer.
7:24
So I've been with Cam Quality. But then when I moved to
7:26
Canberra, I'm like, I want to do some more, I have some more
7:28
capacity. And that's when I looked on seek
7:30
volunteering actually to see what was around and I saw
7:32
canteen needed some assistance. So I reached out to them.
7:34
They said we'd love to have you. So I've been with them for six
7:36
years now. Then through my own like journey
7:41
of, of starting my running. I started with R for R for a bit
7:44
and one of the this is just before Christmas, actually
7:46
before the event. We just spoke about before there
7:48
was a, a centre run that was organised through R for R and
7:52
being very fresh into running. I think I'd only been running
7:54
less than a month at this point. And my friend had encouraged me
7:57
to go and start running and I said, hey, do you want to do the
7:59
Santa run with me? So we went to the Santa run and
8:02
I wear a wore a Santa shirt, which was a terrible idea
8:04
because it was just sore all the sweat, it was hot.
8:07
Did this run didn't really know much about what this Santa run
8:10
was even about. But at the end it was the CEO
8:14
just prior to Renee, his name was Wayne.
8:16
He got up and spoke about what rise above about and how they
8:20
support community and how they support Canberra through
8:23
Canberra families impacted by cancer through financial
8:25
support. And it kind of just clicked for
8:27
me at the moment because I already doing camp quality,
8:30
which is young children. I did canteen because I saw a
8:32
natural progression there to see potentially these kids as they
8:35
graduate or leave camp quality, I can see them grow old into
8:38
canteen. And then I'm like, well, this is
8:40
kind of like the next stage. And I'm like, well, that's kind
8:43
of like the holistic end to end journey.
8:46
And I'm like, well, I would love to help out.
8:47
So I emailed, I think it was the next day, I emailed Wayne, I'm
8:50
like, hey, heard your speech yesterday, really love to help
8:53
out. And I've been volunteering with
8:55
them over a year now. And yeah, it's just been
8:59
fantastic and lucky enough to now join their board of
9:01
directors as well. So I'm thankful for that
9:02
opportunity. And then, yeah.
9:05
And then shortly thereafter also assisting Running for Resilience
9:08
because I wanted to give back to you guys as well.
9:10
You guys have done so much for me.
9:11
And it's just kind of, yeah, that that whole circle moment
9:16
because then I was very lucky to have the opportunity to organise
9:20
the Centre Run for last year, 2025 Centre Run, because I have
9:23
that connection to Rise Above. I have that connection to
9:25
Running for Resilience. And I'm like, well, let me see
9:27
how I can see. I'm a project manager by day.
9:29
So I'm like, why not just put it all in a basket and and help out
9:33
where I can? So yeah, it was fantastic
9:35
though. Oh, you nailed it, and you
9:36
learned from your mistakes as well, because I didn't see you
9:39
wearing a big centre outfit in the most recent one and it was a
9:42
doozy of a day. Oh, that was last year.
9:44
It was hot. We had to change the course just
9:46
because of the heat it. Was it was a hot day, Renee, as
9:50
you as we've kind of said and as Sue's alluded to volunteers.
9:54
I cannot express how much of A role they play with after our
10:00
it's they are the heartbeat of what we do and how people not
10:04
even if they have the tag volunteer.
10:05
It's anyone that is rocking up and contributing to the mission,
10:10
whether they're just welcoming someone or just being there
10:13
showing support. It is anyone who's putting
10:15
effort into the mission and it just keeps after our rolling in
10:21
ways that we could never imagine, and it's beautiful.
10:24
But what type of role do volunteers play with Rise Above?
10:29
Multiple different ways. So Stuart sort of outlined a few
10:32
of the main ones. The first being that we have
10:35
people who help us at our fundraising events.
10:38
We're actually just in the process of kind of creating more
10:43
of a structure for how our volunteers, how we communicate
10:46
with them and how they're rewarded for the time that they
10:49
contribute. Because time is precious, isn't
10:51
it? So it's such a such a scarce and
10:54
valuable commodity is time. So if someone's choosing to give
10:58
us their time to me like that is so generous and we are so
11:03
grateful for it and we want to be able to acknowledge that.
11:06
So we're actually going to be calling our volunteers our
11:09
risers because they help us to raise money and to raise hope.
11:13
And there'll be lots of little fun things along the way.
11:16
If you're a volunteer with Rise Above, there'll be there'll be
11:18
cool little benefits that that come along with that.
11:21
And I know people don't do it necessarily because they're
11:24
expecting to get any kind of tangible benefit from it.
11:29
But I just do think it's really important to acknowledge that
11:33
that volunteer time is something that they could choose to do
11:37
other things, but they're choosing to give that time to
11:39
us. So the variety of things that
11:42
our risers can do anything from. Like at the minute we've got a
11:47
partnership with the Queanbeyan Blues Rugby League club where
11:51
they're collecting the entry fees on their home games and all
11:55
of that money's coming to Rise Above.
11:57
So the beauty of that is that we started in Queanbeyan, We're
12:01
still based in Queanbeyan. I mean, we service Rise Above
12:03
Services ACT, Queanbeyan Palerang region.
12:06
So we, we have a lot of people that we're supporting right
12:09
across that area, but Queanbeyan, and I'm born and
12:13
raised in Queanbeyan. So it feels very much like just
12:15
being home there. And that's beautiful because
12:19
that money all goes back into the community.
12:21
So our volunteers who help collect those donations are
12:24
really helping us to fund people with cancer and their families
12:28
in the community. So it's a lovely very close
12:31
loop. There's not, you're not sending,
12:34
you know, your volunteer time raises money that goes off to
12:37
some big national charity that then eventually a percentage of
12:40
that trickles back into local people.
12:43
It's very kind of hand to mouth. We've also got volunteers who
12:47
come into our headquarters, our HQ and help us to do everything
12:53
from keep the place tidy to helping us with social media
12:58
content. We have volunteers who go out to
13:01
the Canberra Hospital Cancer Centre and are there so that
13:06
they can answer questions if cancer patients are coming in
13:09
and want to know a little bit more about what Rise Above does
13:12
through to being on the board, which is a, it's a volunteer
13:15
board like many charities are, which is a, a sort of different
13:19
level of relationship with the organisation, but one that is
13:23
also incredibly valuable. So as Stuart said, he's our,
13:26
he's our board secretary. We know he has a lot of other
13:29
volunteering gigs. So we try and be reasonable with
13:32
what we ask of him. But certainly our volunteer
13:35
board is critical to the the workings of the organisation.
13:41
It Well, one thing jumped to my mind about Gee whiz, you the
13:45
queen Bee Knights. Is that what we call you?
13:47
You guys stick together. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:49
People from Queen Bee and love being from.
13:51
Queen Bee. I've been away for 25 years
13:53
living in England and I'm I so feel I just feel more at home
13:56
than I felt in 25 years. Every time I drive in there's
13:59
like. 45° to the side, yeah. It's just, it's so good.
14:03
It's so good, you say. This is a little anecdote for
14:06
you yesterday, Speaking of volunteers, my mum came to drop
14:10
some groceries off to me and she we had like a a 5 minute window
14:14
to do the exchange of these groceries, which was very lovely
14:17
and and generous of her to do that.
14:18
She pulled up out the back of the rise above office and I'm
14:22
looking in the cars making a terrible noise ever.
14:23
She had a flat tyre, like flat as a pancake.
14:27
Anyway, I I like it's been a while but I know how to change a
14:29
tyre. So I started and I could not get
14:31
any of the nuts off the wheel. So Lynn Beck's butchery is next
14:34
door to us. I was like oh they've got some
14:36
young strapping lads and there I'll go get some help.
14:38
Went in, got one of their apprentices to come out.
14:40
He started turning, couldn't do it either.
14:42
Next thing, blood spurting everywhere and I'm like Oh my
14:45
God, what's going on? This is all on the side Rd in
14:47
the middle of Queerbia and next to the show ground and it's he
14:50
goes oh I stabbed myself earlier, don't worry about it,
14:52
it's fine. I'm like mate, that's not fine,
14:54
that's a lot of blood. Anyway so grabbed my first aid
14:56
kit out of the car, stitched him out and didn't stitch him out
14:59
but put some proper first aid on his hand so he could do it.
15:02
Still couldn't do it. Grabbed another butcher out so
15:04
he had two butchers, my mum and this car.
15:08
Anyway, we did eventually get it sorted, but it was such a
15:10
Queanbeyan story, like you just couldn't make it up.
15:13
Well, it's, it's funny, but what resonated with me in that story
15:18
you've just said is that you went to help somebody else came
15:23
to help, then you help them. Like it was just, there's
15:27
something very human about giving you time to help somebody
15:32
and how it makes you feel and how it makes you feel part of
15:35
something, but then how it makes the other person feel.
15:39
I know I've been on the receiving end of when people
15:42
help and it's just like this in a good way.
15:45
It's like this, not void, but like unfillable gratitude.
15:54
It's like I can't figure out a way to repay you.
15:59
Not that it's about that, but it's like I want to give back.
16:02
I want every dog. And it was so often when I would
16:05
leave after our events, I would just leave in this feeling of
16:09
gratitude of man, I just want to go do whatever I can for all
16:15
those people because it just, there's something about
16:19
receiving help and giving help that connects us, unites us.
16:24
And like we said before, this should be released middle of the
16:28
week, volunteer week. And I know Stu, you obviously
16:33
very passionate volunteer, may be the busiest volunteer in
16:36
Australia. What do you hope that can happen
16:43
in the volunteer ecosystem that pushes us forward?
16:51
So as you mentioned, National Volunteer Week starting the 18th
16:54
of May and they have a theme every year and they change the
16:56
theme every year. And this year's theme is
16:58
actually your year to volunteer. And So what it is, it's a, it's
17:02
a bit of a call to action. And not only is it recognising,
17:05
you know, the year of everyone else that's volunteered, all,
17:07
all the wonderful components and contributions, they can be so
17:11
small or so large and everyone does it in different capacities
17:14
in different ways. So obviously we need to
17:17
recognise everything that's been done, but it's also a great call
17:21
to action for anyone that might be thinking about volunteering,
17:24
thinking that they might have an interest in in giving back in
17:26
some way. And honestly, it can be so small
17:28
or as much as you want or as little as you want.
17:32
And there's definitely a lot of ways you can look at
17:34
contributing. And the the suggestion I always
17:36
give when people come up to me and ask, you know, you know, how
17:39
should I get into volunteering? I always say find something
17:41
you're passionate about is the first and foremost thing because
17:43
you don't want to feel like, because as you were saying
17:45
before, Renee, time is so precious, right?
17:47
And so you're giving up a lot of your time to volunteer often.
17:50
So find something you're passionate about.
17:51
See you feel like you're not, you know, wasting your time by
17:54
doing it, volunteering for something that you're not
17:55
passionate about. So something you're passionate
17:57
about is great and there's definitely ways you can do it.
18:01
Check with your workplace. A lot of workplace policies
18:04
might actually grant volunteer leave.
18:06
And so I actually know some workplaces that, you know,
18:09
organise A-Team day where they all go and volunteer on a single
18:12
day a year to go contribute to a different organisation or not
18:16
for profit. And collecting and organising
18:17
that with other people and creating your own community to
18:20
volunteer is 1 good way to do that.
18:22
Or finding something that you're passionate about.
18:24
I mentioned before that how I found it out about Canteen, even
18:27
though I knew about the organisation, but I found them
18:29
on On Seek Volunteer, which is volunteer.com dot AU.
18:32
But there's also another website calledgovolunteer.com dot AU
18:36
which is run by the same organisation that does National
18:39
Volunteer Week. So go have a look at if you've
18:42
got the time and capacity, look what's out there, look where the
18:44
needs are, see where the demands are in what the community needs
18:50
and you can search for different areas of interest.
18:53
You can search for different locations as well, but there's
18:55
definitely opportunities out there.
18:56
There's always a need to help others, right?
18:58
That need is never going to be there.
19:00
And I kind of referenced it earlier in the conversation, but
19:03
it's that capacity thing. If you have that capacity, feel
19:07
free to get that capacity and give that pay that capacity
19:10
forward because I, I often think that, you know, I actually, a
19:14
lot of my charities are all cancer related.
19:17
I also do some mental health ones as well.
19:19
I've been very thankful to not being impacted by cancer
19:22
personally. There's no causation or
19:23
correlation as to why I started with camp quality.
19:26
It actually just because I had a friend in doing camp quality at
19:30
the time when I was living in Sydney at this point.
19:32
And he's like, we're so short of male volunteers.
19:34
Like is, I'm not sure if there's statistics around this, but men
19:38
often seem to not volunteer as much as females.
19:40
And especially I've noticed that as well for even camp quality
19:43
to, for camp quality, at least we have, we try and match up our
19:47
young children with the same gender.
19:50
We call them companions or adult volunteers and we try and match
19:55
up obviously the same genders. So because you're taking them
19:57
around, you're doing activities with them.
19:59
So, you know, male volunteers for male children.
20:02
But what happens often in camp quality at least, is we're
20:04
running out of male volunteers by the time we get to the
20:07
younger age children. So we try and prioritise the old
20:10
like, you know, you're 1312 year olds, 11 year olds get them with
20:12
males. But then we're hitting like, you
20:13
know, six and seven year olds. Sometimes we don't have as much
20:17
male volunteers. So we can pair them up with, you
20:19
know, a wonderful, amazing female volunteers still.
20:21
But we're just, we're still short on on meeting that ratio
20:24
of having the right amount. So yeah, finding something
20:27
you're passionate about, finding where the the needs are and
20:30
giving back to that community is really important.
20:32
Yeah, there's a few things coming to my head.
20:35
It's like there's a few entries in the volunteer, isn't there?
20:37
So I mean, with me, it's there's always that quote that stuck
20:41
with me. It's if you find your weakness,
20:43
you find your purpose. Yeah, right.
20:45
And that it was our Farrar and anything associated, it was kind
20:48
of, I almost feel like I don't have a decision.
20:50
It's just it is there was another.
20:52
I mean, I might as well be in volunteering because I was only
20:56
getting paid $4.00 a game. But I, I wanted to referee when
21:00
I was younger basketball and the reason I wanted to referee was
21:03
because I was fed up with not getting the right calls when I
21:06
was, when I was in under toils or whatever it was.
21:09
So that's interesting. Like I bet in a, in a, in a nice
21:12
way. It's like be the change you want
21:14
to see in the world. So if you see something what you
21:16
want to do a bit better, get in there and have a crack.
21:18
I realised that refereeing was a bit harder than it looked.
21:22
But but yeah, if you if people see something often, and this is
21:26
a little bit with AFRA, it wasn't that I was looking at
21:30
what was being done wrong. It was more, hey, everyone seems
21:36
to be doing this well, where, where where can we do more?
21:40
And it was effort. The non the non financial side
21:44
of the hey, like, Yep, we need the top down approach.
21:46
We have funding does stuff. We also need the bottom up
21:49
approach where it gets, but something that sometimes you
21:55
don't need a reason. So I think sometimes with
21:59
volunteering, and I'd be interested to know what you guys
22:02
think is if you can't find your passion, if you can't find your
22:06
purpose, give it to someone else.
22:09
And that seems to be in terms of like if you're lost to do
22:14
anything, what's the next best step?
22:17
Obviously there can be like simple things like exercise or
22:20
all the basic things, but giving your time to somebody else just
22:24
seems to be a great step. Yeah, I, I think, I think that's
22:31
true, but I think it's really important to point out the
22:34
volunteering is a fantastic way of building yourself like, So I
22:41
think the first volunteering job that I did that I actually
22:44
remember, and I don't know if this is just going to give away
22:47
how much older than you guys I am, but it was about 35 years
22:50
ago and I was 15 and I volunteered for some Vinnies and
22:55
did, I was one of their, they did summer camps and I was one
22:57
of their camp helpers. And I, I learned so much from
23:01
that. I learned about leadership, I
23:03
learned about teamwork. I learned about social mobility,
23:09
disadvantage and vulnerability. And I was able to put that on my
23:14
CV when my only other work experience was working at
23:17
Macca's, which was also a very good learning experience.
23:20
A big advocate of Macca's as a first job.
23:23
But I loved it and I got so much out of it.
23:26
And that was directly beneficial to me in terms of when I then
23:31
started doing uni applications or applying for work.
23:33
I put that stuff on my CV and it was genuine learning.
23:37
So yes, it was volunteering. I didn't get anything financial
23:40
out of it, but I got a heap of other stuff out of it.
23:43
I then volunteered for the Starlight Foundation as a wish
23:45
granter, which was just the best.
23:49
Like it was so fun as a as a sort of older teenager, early 20
23:54
year olds again, I learned project management skills.
23:57
I learned how to have negotiations and conversations
24:00
with people. The skill building that you can
24:03
get from volunteering is just huge.
24:06
And some of those things I did because like you say, I was
24:10
like, well, I don't quite know exactly what I want to do right
24:13
now, but I know that this organisation needs help and I,
24:16
I've got some time and I can give to that.
24:18
And in some ways some of the volunteering I've done, I also
24:21
volunteered at the Canberra Mortuary and helped as an
24:23
autopsy assistant for a year while I was at uni because it
24:26
was really interesting in forensic science.
24:29
Some of these things really shaped my career and the person
24:32
that I became. So they might not have been
24:35
necessarily because, like you say, I, you know, I'd had a
24:39
direct experience of, you know, a brother or a sister who was
24:44
chronically or terminally ill. That wasn't why I joined
24:46
Starlight. It was because I had the time.
24:47
I thought what they did was amazing.
24:50
But the side effect of that is that it's absolutely
24:53
volunteering has shaped my career and the person I am in
24:56
ways that I couldn't have mapped out.
24:58
Yeah, the other side effect is you've helped a charity and you,
25:05
that charity will have helped someone.
25:07
And I'll shift because I know that when you came on board,
25:11
Stu, the the specifically speaking, the work you've done
25:16
to help us improve our safety and risk posture is it might
25:23
sound boring to a lot of people and is boring to a lot of
25:26
people. But it is so important for the
25:31
sustainability of AFRA, avoiding silver bullets and making sure
25:35
that it's running as smooth as possible, that it allows the non
25:41
boring stuff, the human connection to happen.
25:43
And the impact that has downstream is immense.
25:49
You know, we're getting hundreds of people on a Wednesday night
25:54
that rock up to an event and that doesn't happen unless ducks
25:58
are in a row. And if that doesn't happen,
26:01
there's so many let there's hundreds of less of connections
26:04
happening and so on and so forth.
26:07
And the impact that has on people's lives.
26:10
So the volunteers, it's almost like this win, win, win loop
26:18
that you actually get so much out of it, but you're giving so
26:24
much as well. Yeah, I actually have on my
26:29
fridge at home, just like all these thank you cards, thank you
26:32
notes. I'm running around space in my
26:33
fridge, actually. Humble brag.
26:36
Yeah, humble brag. Come around and I'll show you.
26:39
But yeah, just all these thank you notes from pretty much
26:41
mostly camp quality canteen from these like young children and
26:45
young adults just saying thank you for giving.
26:47
And like we often say, we don't do it for thanks.
26:49
We don't do it for any of the monetary or like you mentioned,
26:52
obviously everything happening with Rise above at the moment to
26:54
give back to volunteers, but there's no expectation for that
26:57
loop to close. But you're absolutely right.
26:59
There is this is this you do get something back.
27:01
I kind of mentioned before, I'm not doing it for any altruistic
27:04
reason and I'm not doing it before these thank yous.
27:06
But damn, it really feels good. You know, just going to get a
27:10
glass of milk or making a coffee and opening up the fridge and
27:13
just seeing all these, these thank yous.
27:15
I've also got like a bunch of Polaroids from all the kids that
27:17
I've looked after over the years as well.
27:19
And you just, you get this sense of fulfilment and to know that
27:24
you're contributing to more than just yourself and helping
27:27
others. It's, it's yeah, it's
27:30
indescribable really. But we have talked a lot, I
27:33
think just about like volunteering time, volunteering
27:36
skill sets, which is really important, I think.
27:37
And, and I'm not sure we're going to get to it later.
27:39
But, you know, as we're reflecting and talking about it,
27:41
I was just realised that we kind of are forgetting to mention one
27:45
other side that you can still give back and, and give time to,
27:48
which is like fundraising as well.
27:49
There's a completely different side that you don't need to give
27:51
often And, and, and like time or skill sets.
27:55
If you find a charity or purpose that you're really interested or
27:58
excited for, fundraising is a really good way to do that and
28:01
to raise money for those organisations to be able to
28:05
enable them to do that. Because yeah, time is important,
28:08
as you're saying, but unfortunately money is also
28:10
important and these organisations do cost money to
28:13
run or to assist others, etcetera.
28:15
And, and depending on the organisation, there's different
28:17
needs, of course. So look into fundraising
28:19
opportunities or, or consider creating new fundraising
28:22
opportunities to help out organisations that are important
28:25
to you. And, and kind of a recent
28:28
example of this, and I'm not sure if I'm allowed to cross
28:30
pollinate other run clubs or camera run clubs on this
28:32
podcast. I did go to another run club
28:35
called DK Society in Canberra and I'd only been like once or
28:38
twice and I happened to go to it on a run where they spoke about
28:43
an upcoming fundraiser that they were organising for one of their
28:47
members. And so I, because it had
28:50
Melanoma. And I'm like, oh, I've went up
28:52
to speak to him after. I'm like, oh really?
28:54
You know, sad to hear about everything that's going on.
28:56
I'm glad to hear about this fundraiser.
28:58
I'll be coming next week. I'm looking forward to it.
29:00
I, you know, with Camp quality canteen and Rise Above and they
29:02
kind of eyes lit up like what we've been trying to get in
29:04
contact with Rise Above because we want to, you know, donate
29:08
proceeds to Rise Above and do this fundraiser in on behalf of
29:11
Rise Above. And I'm like, oh, well, just so
29:13
happens that I'm on the board of directors.
29:14
What do you need? How can I help and how do I
29:16
facilitate this? So realistically, I didn't
29:18
really have to do much effort in organising and planning.
29:20
They did all this, but they, they donated and raised money
29:23
and I went to Rise Above, which again directly helps Canberra
29:26
families or families in the Canberra region impacted by
29:29
cancer. So yeah, fundraising is another
29:31
really fantastic way to give back as well.
29:34
I'm glad you said it because we, I mean, if everything goes well,
29:37
you guys, Yeah, we'll be this episode will be released
29:43
volunteer week and then the crusade for Conor, fellas.
29:45
Well, they'll be they'll be next week.
29:47
And that's, it's a great example of finding a way to do what you
29:54
can to improve the world however you want.
29:57
And what they're doing is bringing people together and
30:00
raising money for schizophrenia research.
30:03
And it's like it's accepting the fact that they're not doctors
30:07
and scientists. And I'm sure they won't mind me
30:09
saying that, but they're going, what can I do?
30:13
And maybe there's nothing that they can do with the
30:16
researchers, but it's like what? We can go raise money, we can
30:19
tell the story, we can honour our friend and we can help this
30:23
charity do their job better. I think it's really important
30:26
that you said that because there are so many ways to give.
30:30
There are so many ways to give and we've seen it with the
30:34
Sunday Sippers as well. It's just this, I think at the
30:38
end of the day isn't it? It's about finding a way to use
30:42
your skills, same way that you've used your skills with us
30:46
to further a course or make a positive impact.
30:52
Yeah, I am on my current volunteering role outside of
30:57
Rise Above, which is obviously not a volunteering role, is for
31:03
an organisation called Rafiki Moema.
31:05
And it was set up by an amazing Aussie woman up in Coffs
31:10
Harbour. And they have a, they've built a
31:12
safe house, a farm, a home and a school in Kenya for kids who are
31:17
victims of sexual assault. And some of the statistics over
31:21
there, I mean, just horrific in terms of what some children are
31:28
experiencing and and afterwards what happened.
31:31
And I'm really passionate about equal equality and the fact that
31:37
just because I've had the privilege of being born white
31:40
doesn't, you know, doesn't mean that other people shouldn't be
31:44
able to have access to education and be safe.
31:49
So that's why I'm choosing to some on the board of Rafiki.
31:53
And I think your point around, you know, you can find sort of
31:58
anything it, you know, doing something local, like something
32:02
for Rise Above is really great because it feels so tangible and
32:05
so close. But there are Ways and Means to
32:09
tap back into those things that really matter to you.
32:12
So you can find volunteering opportunities that are massively
32:16
aligned with your own personal values, whatever they might be.
32:19
And it's interesting because Kenya's obviously a very long
32:23
way away from from where I am right here right now, but I
32:26
still feel very deeply emotionally and emotionally
32:30
connected and very close to that cause.
32:35
And that I think also volunteering can make the world
32:38
feel like a real, like a community, like a small place,
32:42
which I think the way that the world is at the moment can
32:46
sometimes get totally lost in just the how overwhelming it is,
32:51
the crap that we're having to live through, you know, and that
32:54
very many people in the world are having to live through much
32:56
worse than we are at the moment. I love that volunteering can
33:00
make it feel like a global village again.
33:03
There's a book called Moral Ambition, Rutger Bregman or some
33:08
something like that. And he he speaks about learning
33:11
to weep over spreadsheets. I know you, you might, you're a
33:14
spreadsheet man. You might cry over a few
33:16
spreadsheets, but it's yeah, it's about being able to
33:20
understand the the, the human story behind certain numbers and
33:25
the impact that you can have across the world if you want to
33:27
have it. It's it's ultimately, it is
33:35
ultimately what matters most to the person that wants to do the
33:43
best they can with their time. One of the things we realised
33:47
early on is it is actually like we kind of touched on it with
33:50
the altruistic lens, but it's, it's also self fulfilling
33:56
prophecy almost. It's like a self reliant loop of
34:01
volunteering is actually great for your mental health with
34:05
running for resilience because you do you feel part of
34:07
something, you feel part of a community, feel part of a goal
34:11
bigger than yours. And then eventually, obviously,
34:13
it helps the R for our community and other communities do more.
34:17
But I think that's an important thing about volunteering is you
34:22
are joining a community and that is sometimes, I mean, we've all
34:28
stayed in jobs longer than we should because we like the
34:30
colleagues we work with. Being part of a community is
34:34
really important. And for R, for R as well, like
34:38
you guys do such a good job supporting your volunteers, you
34:40
provide mental health awareness training, which is not only
34:43
helping us to, you know, help the community, but also we get
34:46
something back out of it as well.
34:47
We get to understand our mental health and, and, and make sure
34:52
that we're in the right space to help other people.
34:53
And as a really good sort of focus on making sure our
35:00
volunteers are feeling right and ready to volunteer.
35:03
Because, you know, it's important that we look after
35:06
ourselves first. You know, it's just people, not
35:08
even just as volunteers and then help others where we have the
35:11
capacity to do so. So you do you do get a lot of
35:14
that. You get a community out of it.
35:15
You get you get a sense of purpose.
35:18
You get training and and learning.
35:20
You get skills like you I and another really good example of
35:24
of that getting skills out of it, and I was expecting it is
35:26
with R For R, I've kind of stepped up a bit more on like
35:30
usually the Thursday night. So I'm doing a bit more of the
35:32
speeches and that and like, I'm, you know, I do a lot of client
35:37
calls in my day to day job and like do PowerPoint presentations
35:41
and everything and stand up in a room and talk to people.
35:44
It's a very different setting when you're standing up in front
35:46
of a bunch of people you don't know a bunch of the public.
35:50
And I remember my first ever sort of speech, I, my leg was
35:52
shaking like I and I and I kind of went up to a lot of people I
35:56
knew after. I'm like, yeah, that was bad,
35:57
wasn't it? Like, oh, it was, yeah.
36:03
Yeah. I wish it was intentional, but
36:07
I've just pushed forward and I've just, you know, week on
36:10
week or, you know, over over time just kept practising and
36:14
kept sort of just giving the speeches.
36:16
And my confidence in just talking to people in that sort
36:19
of setting has just grown in it immensely.
36:22
I gave a wedding speech at the beginning of last year and it
36:27
was probably the worst speech I've ever given.
36:28
And I've often thought I wish I had done half for half for a bit
36:31
beforehand, gotten all that practise of speaking in front of
36:34
a room of people, and then I would have given the great
36:36
wedding speech. But now I know I can give a good
36:38
wedding speech. So like, yeah, I'm getting stuff
36:41
out of it too. So hard to say I'm just only
36:43
giving. I'm also receiving a lot too.
36:45
And I got to give credit to, you know, the opportunities that are
36:48
for our creates connections with other volunteers, connections
36:51
with, you know, even the, the board as well.
36:54
Being able to try and give back to where I can because I have
36:56
that passion to make sure that there's using my skills in the
36:59
best way possible. And you guys realising and
37:01
recognising that and giving me the opportunities to do so.
37:04
So yeah, I've gotten a lot out of it.
37:07
It's good that you have, and I think this before, before we get
37:11
to the like the call to action in a sense, I think it's really
37:14
important. People shouldn't feel bad about
37:17
feeling good. And you say after I gave you
37:19
opportunities, it's like, yeah, we did.
37:22
But you doing that helps us. And it's like by design.
37:27
So when somebody else gets up and speaks at an event in, in
37:32
our mind, it's like this is somebody who's feels strongly
37:35
enough about the community at the very least, or the mission
37:38
at the very least, that they're willing to speak on behalf of R
37:43
for R And what that does is it it validates it.
37:47
It validates it to whoever's listening.
37:49
It's not just one person. It's everyone who puts their
37:53
name to, to the brand, so to say to the charity.
37:56
So it's, it's you're getting skills out of it.
38:00
You're contributing to a community, but you're also,
38:05
you're also, you're also contributing to what makes the
38:09
community better, like from a strategic point of view.
38:12
So it's like, it really is this altruistic cycle of and if you
38:18
feel, if you accept it, hey, it's OK to feel good as long as
38:23
you're doing the right things, feel as good as you want to
38:25
feel. You know, you're allowed to
38:26
chase that. I feel good when I give to
38:28
people. Go for it.
38:30
Don't feel bad about feeling good.
38:32
I think it's, it's important to understand that it's this cycle
38:39
and if you can jump in the cycle and keep going.
38:41
The wheel gets bigger as time goes on.
38:44
Volunteer week. What do you hope it achieves?
38:48
And we'll keep it local. What do you hope it achieves in
38:51
Canberra? You can go.
38:55
First, Yeah, sure, I think so. There are, there are different
38:59
levels for me. So the the 1st and kind of most
39:03
broad level and just listening to, I'm thinking like
39:06
volunteering is the ultimate circular economy, isn't it?
39:09
Yeah, where human kindness or something is the currency.
39:12
Goodwill Economy. Yeah, and I actually genuinely
39:16
cannot imagine my life without volunteering.
39:20
I don't think, you know, I started when I was 15.
39:21
I've never not done it. And I would love, I think #1 for
39:27
even one person to discover the joy that can the volunteering
39:32
could bring to their life by giving it a go.
39:35
That would be my, like, my broad kind of altruistic hope kind of
39:40
filtering down, distilling that down.
39:43
The next level would be that I would love Rise Above to get
39:46
some more volunteers. We have so many opportunities.
39:50
You know, I think having a new CEO into an organisation that's
39:54
40 years old, like Rise above is, is a great opportunity for
39:57
I'm, I'm so up for ideas and creativity.
40:00
I would love for people to now is a great time if you want to
40:04
come in and be able to, you know, have a bit of an influence
40:07
on the direction of a really beautiful, well established
40:11
organisation that does great work in our community.
40:14
Then I would love to hear from people.
40:17
There is a link on our website if people do want to sign up to
40:19
become volunteers or you know, we're always on the phone so
40:22
they can just give us a call and we can have a chat.
40:24
I think those are the the kind of two main levels for me.
40:29
I also think one of the kind of groups we haven't really talked
40:32
about as schools and school kids IA lot of kids have to do
40:37
volunteering as a part of, you know?
40:41
Volunteering. Coercive.
40:44
Volunteering, Yeah. That's it, and I think you can
40:49
make that volunteering experience really valuable.
40:52
So I would love to see more schools getting in touch with
40:56
Rise Above to find out ways that we could help facilitate
40:59
volunteering opportunities that are fun, that are meaningful,
41:03
and that gives something really local that would be great.
41:06
I think that's my, those are my three call to actions.
41:09
So most of the calling is actually calling Rise Above.
41:12
So if I haven't made that clear, call Rise Above.
41:17
For me, I think it's mostly two things.
41:18
So National Volunteer Week has always been the purpose is to
41:21
like recognise current and, you know, existing volunteers.
41:25
And because, you know, we often say it's a thankless job and
41:27
we've spoken already about all the ways that you do get
41:29
thanked, different methods and means, even the things you get
41:33
back out of it. But it is to some degree a
41:36
thankless job in terms of the fact that like you don't, you
41:39
might not always get recognised by etcetera.
41:41
There are different organisations that do different
41:43
ways to do it like highlighting stories, etcetera.
41:46
But Volunteer Week is established to sort of recognise
41:49
just everyone that volunteers. So I think for me, the main
41:52
purpose continues to be the main purpose of Volunteer Week, which
41:55
is basically to thank everyone that's given time, effort,
41:58
fundraising, anything that you've done to support a
42:00
volunteer organisation and not for profit.
42:03
Big thank you to everyone out there that's done that.
42:05
It's like the main purpose for me.
42:07
I do love the fact that this year's theme is your year to
42:10
volunteer. And it's basically that call to
42:13
action. Like where can you, if you,
42:15
whether you are already or you've been thinking about it or
42:18
you didn't even think of it as a possibility, this could be your
42:22
year to sort of make a change and continue to do something, do
42:25
some more of something or try something new.
42:27
You've already highlighted obviously the need for Rise
42:30
above the volunteers and the various roles that we think that
42:33
people can contribute to assist with that.
42:35
I obviously want to also call it, you know, running for
42:37
resilience is another example for that.
42:39
You guys have grown. It's like almost exponentially
42:41
since the origin. We've heard this story over the
42:43
podcast about how much is done, but you know, I'm not sure just
42:47
how much people realise goes into setting up, especially at
42:50
the Wednesday nights. Like all those waters need to be
42:52
poured out. We need to go put their signs
42:54
out to keep left to ensure public safety as well.
42:57
We try and have runners as well that make sure that everyone out
43:00
on the course is safe. And we also do have our spotter
43:04
rolls as well, which isn't going out and ensuring that people
43:06
that look, you know, might be first timers or might look a bit
43:08
lonely. Try and have those conversations
43:10
with people and if you have an interest in doing that, similar
43:13
to, you know, rise above having a link to volunteer.
43:15
I know running for resilience also has that on the, on your
43:17
website as well and would recommend people that have been
43:20
attending a for a, for some time and, and feel like they could
43:23
potentially help out with bits. And we do have a great volunteer
43:25
base, But at the same time, as we're growing, we want to make
43:29
sure that we're not just relying on, on those, you know, core
43:33
members that keep showing up every week because, you know, we
43:36
want them to also be in the right headspace and they might
43:38
be busy with life. So growing that volunteer base
43:41
for R, for R would be great as well.
43:42
But coming back to finding something that you're passionate
43:46
about and going to volunteer.com.auorgovolunteer.com
43:50
dot AU to find new purposes, new passions, or consider
43:53
fundraising opportunities. Anything that you can contribute
43:56
and give back I think is my second big call to action.
43:59
Yeah, I think you've spoken on one thing that's sparked my
44:04
memory too, is I've given you enough shout outs this this
44:08
podcast too. We thought all your skills that
44:10
have helped for our but we've had, you know, Timbo who
44:13
volunteered his time with the website design.
44:15
We had digital nachos who Georgie, who, you know, helped
44:20
build our volunteer app. And we've got a few more things
44:24
where people are using their skills to come in and help us.
44:29
And I know used to work in the sector where I'd have a view of
44:35
different charities and the amount of help that gives them.
44:38
And somebody who knows what they're doing just walks in and
44:41
goes bang. And it's like, I was going to
44:44
spend weeks on that. But they know what they're
44:46
doing. They get it done.
44:48
If you have a set of skills, just ask, ask the charity.
44:52
They might say the worst thing, they can say no.
44:55
And so I think, yeah, your year to volunteer, I think it's just
45:00
a clear path to a better a better world and certainly a
45:04
clear path to a suicide free Canberra where more people are
45:08
putting their shoulder to the wheel however they can, wherever
45:12
they can. And I just reckon one, it's
45:16
great for them, but it's great for you what you do with
45:20
volunteering and obviously what you do for the Kansas community
45:23
and Queanbeyan community. We'll make sure.
45:26
And Stu, same with you. Thank you for coming on the
45:30
podcast and any final remarks. No, just do it.
45:37
Just don't. Don't sue us, Nike.
45:40
I don't think they've trademarked those 3 words, have
45:42
they? Oh, they would have.
45:43
They definitely. But yeah, I think you just got
45:46
to give it a go, don't you? I I I would be willing to bet
45:49
money that you will get more out of it than you ever imagined.
45:54
I think for me, like everyone's like, well, how do you find the
45:56
time to do like I do like four or five charities if you guys
45:59
also do lifeline of it as well. But everyone's like, how do you
46:02
find the time? And I'm like, well, because not
46:04
all of them are like weekly. Like after all, I try and do
46:06
weekly or twice weekly, right? Do as much as I can because
46:09
that's a weekly thing. But a lot of them are every
46:10
three months or so. Some of them I take annual leave
46:13
for. Some of them I don't.
46:14
So find the capacity you have and go out there and do it.
46:17
But yeah, just appreciate being here and having the opportunity
46:21
to chat with yourself and, and share the stories.
46:23
And, and again, for me, it's just recognising all the work of
46:26
all the volunteers, all the art for our volunteers, all the rise
46:28
of our volunteers and just everyone that volunteers in
46:31
general. So, yeah, thank you.
46:32
Stu, Renee, thank you. Thanks so much, Matt.
46:35
Cheers.