What Does Volunteering Involve?

Volunteering is a great way to contribute to your community, meet people and develop new skills. It involves a regular commitment to an agreed role that suits your availability, skills and experience. Volunteers need to become familiar with their rights and their responsibilities to the organisation and to clients and to be able to work reliably and cooperatively within a team. Training is offered through local Volunteer organisations. There are a few steps to becoming a volunteer including an interview, a police check and a Working With Children check as matching the volunteer to a suitable role within the agency.

What Training Is Offered?

The Community Support Worker’s course consists of 50 hours training. Thirty-six hours of this is classroom time and 14 hours is on-the-job-training. The course is nationally accredited and generally runs for six weeks with classes one day per week. A mentor is provided to assist with training and homework.
Once you have successfully completed the accredited course, you would then serve a probationary period at Box Hill Community Information and Support during which you receive support, guidance and assistance to enable you to carry out the role of a Community Information Worker.

Your role as a Community Support Worker at the CIS may include:

  • Interviewing people who need assistance
  • Determining, with reference to the CIS’s guidelines, the appropriate assistance to be provided to clients
  • Advocating on behalf of clients where needed
  • Sourcing information through a range of information databases and services
  • Providing practical assistance, through advocacy and negotiation, filling out forms, referring and making appointments with other services
  • Record-keeping and statistical recording
  • Working with others as a team supporting the aims and objectives of the CIS
  • Keeping up-to-date with relevant community, state and national issues
  • Attending training sessions organized by or through the agency

Recruiting Now

General Volunteers

We are currently looking for volunteers to fill a number of roles supporting client services and office administration.

For further information please phone 9285 4801 or email manager@boxhillcis.org.au

Foodbank Officers

We are looking for volunteers to work as food distributors, ideally up to 3 days per week (even a single shift would be appreciated).

Duties include collecting, unpacking and storing food and other grocery items from Foodbank and other local suppliers. Also, making up food parcels for CIS clients. A current driver’s licence would be helpful, but not essential.

For further information please phone 9285 4801 or email manager@boxhillcis.org.au