Wednesday September 8 2004

Volunteer effort recognised in new research report

The Dunedin Community Volunteer Centre today welcomed the release of an important new report documenting the essential contribution volunteers make to New Zealand society.

Value Added By Voluntary Agencies, released today by the New Zealand Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations and Price Waterhouse Coopers, measures the voluntary contributions to ten major social service agencies in New Zealand.

“Volunteers make a significant contribution to New Zealand society,” said Sam Huggard, Manager of the Dunedin Community Volunteer Centre. “Through the fields of education, health, welfare, environment, sports and on Marae, volunteers are everywhere – making generous contributions to their communities.”

“We have always known that many organisations would not be able to function effectively without the dedication and effort of their volunteers. The research released today goes some way to validate what we all instinctively know – that without volunteers we loose the lifeblood of communities,” said Sam Huggard.

The ten agencies that participated in the project were: Barnardos; Citizens Advice Bureau; Diabetes New Zealand; Literacy Aotearoa; IHC; National Association of ESOL Home Tutor Scheme; Playcentre; Royal NZ Foundation of the Blind; Royal New Zealand Plunket Society Inc; Victim Support.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>