Ian Cohen today encouraged local not-for-profit organizations to nominate their most dedicated workers for the inaugural NSW Volunteer of the Year Award.
This is a great initiative to honour the contribution the 1.4 million volunteers make to NSW,” said Mr Cohen.
The Volunteer of the Year Awards were launched on behalf of the Centre for Volunteering by the NSW Minister for Volunteering Linda Burney. The Minister, who is Patron of the awards, has called for representatives of the thousands of not-for-profit organizations in NSW to nominate their most committed workers.
The awards are being promoted and conducted on a regional basis throughout the State. Regional awards ceremonies will take place during October, regional winners will take part in State judging. An award ceremony to honour all winners will be held on December 5 – International Volunteer Day.
“We hope that in the future, other states take up the NSW initiative to enable the awards to become a national program,” said Mr Cohen.
Volunteers in Australia are estimated to contribute about $12.5 billion a year through their unpaid efforts. In NSW the figure is more than $3 billion a year.
Volunteer work ranges from aged care, education and child welfare and counselling, through to emergency callout, event control, running sporting clubs, environmental campaigning and animal protection.
“There’s hardly an area of life that is not helped by volunteering. We will be making every effort to ensure the NSW Volunteer of the Year Award recognises that invaluable unpaid effort,” said Mr Cohen.
The awards organiser, The Centre for Volunteering, is the peak body for more than 330,000 not-for-profit organizations in NSW.
For Further Information about the awards, or to nominate a volunteer, call Kristin Romanis, The Centre for Volunteering, telephone (02) 9261 3600 or visit the website: www.volunteering.com.au
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