It’s time to DoSomething! Are you volunteering as much as you could?

Sandra Sully wants you to DoSomething!

10 Daily Contibuting News Editor

Nearly 3 million volunteers are involved with Australia’s registered charities. But increasing numbers of community organisations are saying they need more volunteers.

We all know that volunteers play an important role in the delivery of community services. But why are we running short of volunteers?

It’s a question that’s been asked by the DoSomething Foundation.

As part of their DoSomethingNearYou push, the charity is calling on Australians to volunteer more in their local communities.

More of us need to join the volunteers who already help out in op shops, community groups, service clubs and emergency service organisations.

But often we simply don’t know where to go and how to get involved.

Making it easier for people to volunteer is the reason why DoSomething started DoSomethingNearYou. By typing in your postcode, their DoSomethingNearYou.com.au website also shows you the many things you can do to give back in your local community.

But as DoSomething Founder Jon Dee points out, not all volunteering has to be linked to a registered charity or community group.

“DoSomethingNearYou encourages everybody to pitch in and help out,” said Dee. “It might be helping an older person, buying a homeless person a meal, picking up rubbish or mowing a neighbour’s lawn. Acts of kindness like this make our communities nicer places to live.”

I like how DoSomethingNearYou encourages us to think about the ways that we can give back. It encourages people to get involved in their own community and effect real change.

Many of us lead busy lives, but in today’s society we should all try to do our bit. Every act of giving back can make a difference. If we all did it, the world would be a far better place.