VOLUNTEERING
Help out once, or help our regularly
Warrnambool Community Garden is at heart a member-based organisation. However we really value any contributions to our efforts and have a range of avenues for community to volunteer and enjoy activities on-site.
The maintenance and development of the site could not have happened without the contributions of community volunteers over the years.
Get in touch to have a chat about what volunteering might suit you.
We have a volunteer coordinator to ensure a good match between prospective volunteers and activities they engage in.
You'll be supported by an induction process (for regular volunteers) with member leadership and guidance in activities.
Some volunteers join us for one-off activities or a short series of them. Others are with us for an extended period of time. Many people who come along as volunteers end up becoming members.
How can you help?
Come and Try
Anyone is welcome to come along to activities to experience what we do and how people interact, often as part of deciding whether to join or not.
Some of the activities that work well for this include our 1st and 3rd Saturday mornings, and our weekly activities with the Herb Group on Tuesday mornings, Wednesdays and the site manager's days (see our current newsletter elsewhere on this site).
Just rock up on any of these days as ask anyone for the day's organiser.
The come and try concept extends to members bringing along friends who have expressed an interest in the garden. This is a great way to get a feel for the place as there is someone to explain things and do introductions.
Special Projects
We run projects or activities we think may be of interest to the community.
We advertise these to members and community, and often have a vibrant and interesting group of members and volunteers coming along to help as a result.
Examples include
Musicians playing at events including the summer market.
Planting days on the quarry walls.
Centrelink Based Volunteering
We have some capacity for “mutual obligation” volunteers working on the same days as the site manager. Their contribution to much of our current operations is huge, and we value them greatly.
Most would be members if they could, but unfortunately you can't do this type of volunteering at an organisation where you are a member.
Historically much of our older infrastructure was built with a large input from work for the dole participants – a Centrelink administered program.
Organisational Volunteering
Some large organisations have incentives for their employees to contribute to the community. This can be as individuals and sometimes as teams. With a site as large and as busy as ours, there are always projects that can be undertaken by organisational volunteers.
What kind of things could you help with?
Gardening and grounds maintenance in all their varied forms are always available.
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Weeding and tidying beds
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Mulching
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Turning compost
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Helping with propagation and seedlings
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Tidying the site
Guidance can be given for one-off volunteering. People wishing to volunteer over an extended period will get to do lots of different things over time.
We also have opportunities available for people with specific skills or interests:
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Photography and videography that we can use for education and promotion
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Website update and maintenance
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Social media planning and content creation
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Event planning and coordination