Strong Voices

More than 370 volunteers from 26 IDEA Services areas are now signed up to serve their communities as part of the Student Volunteer Army (SVA) Service Award.

Volunteers in Canterbury and North Canterbury had a head start because they piloted the scheme in 2022. Now they are streets ahead of the rest of the country, with 98 people logging their hours.

Following the pilot, Otago launched the scheme in August last year and already has 44 volunteers participating. The keen SVA volunteers from Switch and Kirkaldy Street services in Dunedin decided to clean up their city and in October received a ‘Highly Commended’ award at the Keep Dunedin Beautiful awards.

“As we walked to and from Switch, we couldn’t help but notice the litter in our local streets. We decided to take action with weekly clean-up walks,” says IDEA Services Support Worker Sarah Rodger.

“The highlight of our clean-up is witnessing the sense of pride and achievement on everyone’s faces. They know they’re making a difference, and our streets are safer and cleaner as a result. Our local community has been wonderfully supportive. We have a contract with Dunedin City Council now and visit local parks on a roster and clean them up as well as our local streets.

“This isn’t just cleaning up; it’s a fantastic community activity, a chance to connect with friends and a way to protect our environment.

“We had the entire team of people recognised for their efforts at the SVA awards and some even gaining a bronze badge. We spend at least an hour every week and continue to pick up a huge array of rubbish,” Sarah says.

SVA’s Head of Programmes and Engagement Georgia Gumbrell has been visiting IDEA Services areas to launch the programme. In some areas there might be only one or two volunteers so far, but support is growing.

The people we support already do a lot of volunteering and now they can earn pins and get acknowledgement. Georgia says volunteer activities so far have centred on gardening and environmental care, volunteering at op shops, knitting blankets for the SPCA and picking up rubbish and other community clean-ups.

The SVA Service Award is a nationally recognised framework, designed to acknowledge volunteering. The five-level pin system celebrates the diverse acts of service that volunteers contribute to their local communities.

Volunteers log hours and receive pins when they meet milestones – member, bronze, silver, gold and ‘Top Volunteer’ – all while building a record of their volunteering, which is useful for those wanting experience to enter the workforce.

The programme is delivered in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand and is also being trialled in parts of Australia in partnership with Volunteering Tasmania and Volunteering SA&NT (South Australia and Northern Territory).

Above: SVA volunteers from the Dunedin IDEA Services Switch and Kirkaldy Street teams at work again, cleaning up their town.