International Volunteer Day 'Wrap' Celebrations
10 December 2001 at 12:12 pm
The International Year of Volunteers has officially ended with well-deserved celebrations down-under as well as worldwide.
The finale event was in Canberra on December 5th at the National Museum of Australia with the unveiling of an exhibition of artwork representing each state and territory by artist Ken Lee. The exhibition is called “Volunteer Spheres”.
The CEO of Volunteering Australia Sha Cordingly hosted the event which included the Governor General, the Rev Peter Hollingworth. Cordingly presented the Federal Government with the report called the Volunteer Agenda Beyond 2001, taking the experience of the last twelve months into the future.
For those organisations around Australia who applied for IYV Small Equipment Grants…the final list of successful recipients has been announced.
Of the 23,000 organisations that applied, 2835 have received offers of funding.
The successful applicants range from Aboriginal corporations and Apex Clubs to wildlife, welfare and wheelchair sports and also include for example, historical societies, hospital auxiliaries, landcare groups, progress associations, school parents groups and volunteer emergency services.
Here is a breakdown of the where and how many organisations have been offered a grant:
Australian Capital Territory: 40
New South Wales (and Norfolk Island) 838
Northern territory: 26
Queensland: 531
South Australia: 247
Tasmania: 107
Victoria: 783
Western Australia: 263
The size of the grants ranges from just $27 to $5000!
If you would like to see who got what in your state just send us an –e-mail for a list in your nominated state(s) to probono@probonoaustralia.com.au.
Elsewhere the closing ceremony for IYV 2001 was celebrated at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.
The UN General Secretary, Kofi Annan addressed the celebrations saying the New York event was a timely opportunity to look closely at the entire phenomenon of volunteering, and to raise awareness of the vital contributions that volunteers make to build strong and healthy societies around the world.
As an example Annan said that without the help of 10 million volunteers, UNICEF and its partners would not have been able to immunise 550 million children against polio. As of 2001 he said, the value of that support was estimated at $US10billion – well beyond the reach of what the UN or its partner organisations could have handled on their own!
Annan pointed out that contrary to what many people think, volunteering does not occur among the better-off members of society. Of the 4,500 UN volunteers serving around the world each year more than two-thirds are from developing countries!
He concluded by saying that on International Volunteer Day, let’s hope that many more people around the world will be inspired to roll up their sleeves and join the worldwide movement of volunteers.
