Have you ever experienced a case of the ‘feel goods’ or ‘helper’s high’?
It's a great confidence booster and it feels good because you're helping other people.
Your time is precious and that's a beautiful gift that you can offer to the community.
There is no simple answer about how come volunteering makes you feel good, but feeling good, I'm
all for it.
Ever heard of a ‘helper’s high’?
Statistics show that by volunteering our time, we feed our own positive mood and boost our
overall physical and mental health.
To celebrate the ABC’s 90th year of connecting communities we’re asking you to take the
90 for 90 pledge.
I'm pledging 90 minutes to Common Ground.
It's all about centring First Nations people in our day-to-day by amplifying their culture,
their knowledge, and their stories.
My #ABC90for90 pledge is to make sure that, by the end of the year, I’ll have volunteered
at least 25 times for Parkrun Australia.
I pledge 90 minutes to Twenty10 who are an organisation that support young LGBTQIA+ people
in New South Wales.
And as part of that I'm going to help put on a 90s music themed ‘Care-a-oke’ night.
Karaoke – ‘Care-a-oke'.
My #ABC90for90 pledge is to send 90, blow it, 900 books to Indigenous schools around
Australia.
I travel the country week in and week out.
So what I want to do is, with the help of the Common Ground database, I'm going to take
a photo and share the indigenous name of the places that I go to; beneath the buildings
and the roads, and then beneath that into the cultural stories.
I'm passionate about volunteering because, without volunteers, Park Run wouldn't happen
and I know that it helps a lot of people find their community and start their weekends in
an awesome way.
Twenty10 supports young queer people in lots of different ways, whether that's through
housing support, counselling, they have a drop-in service, they provide meals for young
people; lots of different ways of showing support.
Literacy is a fundamental human right.
It helps each of us navigate the complex world that exists around us.
If you're thinking about starting your volunteering journey, my advice would be ‘put your inhibitions
aside’ because everyone has to start somewhere and you never know where it might lead.
So when you see people that you volunteer with, they become part of your family, and
the reason behind the volunteering becomes who you are, and it connects to your heart.
I like to support them because I like feeling connected to my community and I want young
LGBTQIA+ people to be able to live their best lives.
I'm a proud queer person, it breaks my heart to know that young queer people experience
poorer mental health than their peers because of stigma, discrimination, and abuse, and
I want to help change that.
90 minutes.
It could be anything.
A little weeding session, maybe mowing the lawn, perhaps planting a few trees, better
still turning the compost. 90 minutes.
That's a movie, or like cooking a meal, having a chat with your mother on the phone if it's
my mother.
What's your #ABC90for90 pledge?
Australia, it's time to give back.
Let's make the pledge.
Take the pledge at abc.net.au/gives Give back and volunteer, make your pledge
at abc.net.au/gives Do good, feel good.
Make the pledge.