Kids on the coast

Each of us has something to give, and together we can help make the world we live in a better place. When our children are very young, we need to teach them by example, by modeling good behavior and relationships. Giving back to the community is a way of setting a good example for our kids, and many local families are doing just that. Volunteering gives children a greater awareness of the world around them and a growing sense of social responsibility.
 
Sunshine Coast psychotherapist Monique Rutherford believes volunteering as a family strengthens relationships and improves communication. She says parents, children and other family members create shared memories as they spend time together contributing. Volunteering also connects and strengthens communities, reduces feelings of social isolation, and fosters respect for different people and conditions. It empowers children and they gain an increased sense of worth and self-esteem, as they see how their contribution can help make a difference.
 
Monique considers family volunteering a great way for parents to act as positive role models and to show kids how to help others in need. “Children learn far more from parents’ examples than they do from advice, judgment, blaming or shaming,” Monique says. “When children see their parents actively organising their time to help others and are involved in the process, they will see it as a normal part of life, not just potential, or something they’d like to do one day.”

Children can get involved in giving back to the community at any age. “The younger the child, the more likely they will see the contribution as a regular family activity,” Monique explains. “Of course, as they get older their capacity to contribute as well as their interests will change and so their role may change also.”

There are many ways to make a difference, whether it’s fighting global poverty, raising funds to feed and clothe needy children, or helping neglected or injured animals.
 
Fighting global poverty

Gold Coast teenager Naomi Dickson has been helping others less fortunate than herself since, at the age of nine, she participated in her very first 40 Hour Famine. Recently, as World Vision’s Queensland Youth Ambassador, Naomi experienced hardship in third world communities first-hand during a trip to Cambodia.
 
“I met kids who were really starving, I met kids who were homeless, I met kids who had lost both their parents to HIV/AIDS, and I saw a lot of suffering,” Naomi says. “However, there is hope, because these kids are now being supported through World Vision.”
Naomi says the upcoming 40 Hour Famine in August is an easy way to get involved and help address the global food crisis. The event is one of Australia’s largest youth fundraisers, with about 350,000 young people expected to participate this year.

“You don’t have to give up food, you can give up technology … and for kids of primary age, it’s only eight hours,” Naomi explains.
Naomi hasn’t always been a globe-trotting activist. She first started sponsoring an African child when she was in Year 9, using earnings from her part-time job. Her family sponsors a total of nine children through World Vision, and they have made personal connections with the sponsored children, having visited most of them over the years.

“Our dream is to one day visit them all, as we see first-hand what a difference it makes,” Naomi’s mum Lenore Dickson, says.
A mother of three, Lenore says family volunteering teaches children that they live in a global community and that helping others is rewarding. She believes volunteering brings children a greater understanding and awareness of what’s happening in the world. “There’d be a lot less wars and conflict if everybody cared for one another,” Lenore says.

Lenore believes community work and volunteering begin at home, and children look to their parents for guidance. If they see mum and dad being supportive of causes, and having a voice against the injustices of the world, children will follow that example.
“Children model what they see in their own home and you can talk your head off, but it’s not going to make any difference,” she says. “If parents can give up their time to support any community outreach, their children will then model that.”

Lenore says schools and community organisations are “a wonderful support” for family volunteering. Schools encourage children to participate in a range of activities, develop skills and get involved with the community, while organisations like Guides, Scouts and surf lifesaving clubs build up skills in volunteering because they have an ethos of service.
 
Human rights and social responsibility have always been important to 18-year-old Naomi, who plans to study law and international relations at university, so she can continue to help make a difference. She is determined to continue with her work “giving back to the community that gives me so much every day”.

Caring for animals

The RSPCA helps all kinds of animals and they couldn’t do it without the help of foster families who care for more than 3,000 animals in Queensland each year. Sharn and Trevor Gardner, and their two boys Jackson and Lachlan, provide foster care for horses on their property on the Gold Coast hinterland. Mum Sharn Gardner says caring for horses was the perfect choice for her family, because they live on acreage and she has a lot of experience with horses.

Some of the horses that come to stay with the Gardner family are obviously mistreated and Sharn says some of them are “skin and bone” and it’s vital that horses are monitored closely so they can have the care and hands-on attention that they need to recover. “Rehabilitation is really important for these animals,” Sharn says. “Some are frightened by people and they need lots of hands-on work, others are just malnourished and need monitoring of their feeds.”

Sharn believes animal foster care is a great way for her children to learn how to give back to the community without expecting anything in return. “We thought it was a good way to show our children that you can actually do something and not have to get paid for it,” she says. “We’re teaching them that you don’t necessarily do things in life because you’ll get something back. You do things because it’s the right thing to do.”

Sharn says there is an unbelievable wealth of information that comes from caring for the animals and the children learn about boundaries, respect and responsibility.” The boys have a strong sense of right and wrong,” Sharn says. “They know from this experience that if a wrong has been done, in this case to the horses, we can go a long way to making it right.”

With supervision and support from their parents, both Lachlan, aged six, and Jackson, aged eight, help with the care and rehabilitation of the horses. Their jobs include checking on the water and throwing hay over the fence. “I help with the feeds and water and give them pats,” Jackson says.
The boys learn that a mistreated horse will slowly build up trust with them over time. “They can see the correlation between that and their relationships with people as well,” Sharn says. “If you treat some-one with respect and you treat them with dignity, then they’ll respond accordingly.”
 
Part of fostering animals is learning how to let go and say goodbye to the animals at the end of the rehabilitation period. Sharn says the boys get attached to the animals, but she feels it’s important for them to learn to let go. “We’ve done what we can to care for them,” Sharn says. “It’s time for them to move on.”

Lachlan feels sad when it’s time to say goodbye to a foster horse “because I like them when they run and play”, but he feels happy that they are going to a new home. “They will have a happy new life and it’s better than their old life,” his brother Jackson says.

Keeping local kids warm

Lending a helping hand to struggling local families is another way of giving back to the community. Some kids don’t have warm pyjamas this winter, and Sunshine Coast resident Brooke Neylan launched the Coast’s very own Pyjama Program, to provide winter pyjamas for local children in need.
Brooke says she has always wanted to help children in some way and when she saw the US Pyjama Program on television, she thought it would be a great way to help. “When I put on my winter PJ's for this first time this year, it made me think about how many children there are out there that are not as lucky as I am or was as a child,” she says.

Brooke is working in partnership with the Salvation Army, and she says that more than 60 children have already received new winter pyjamas through the program. “Giving teaches children that it's not all about receiving - that there are children out there not as fortunate as them, who don't receive new toys every birthday,” Brooke says. “It's important that children understand helping others brings rewards - rewards of a different kind.

“We have had an amazing amount of interest from local residents and also local community groups who have all vowed to support the campaign and put together fundraising and PJ drives.”

The program is supported by individuals and organisations all over the Sunshine Coast, including the Buderim Cub Scouts and the Buderim Rotary Club. Buderim Cub Scout leader Neil Parkinson knew the pyjama program was something the children in his group would want to help with. He spoke with them about how it feels on a cold night hopping into a new pair of PJ’s and feeling snug and warm. After he described to them how some children go to bed cold, with nothing more than their summer pyjamas, he said the young Cubs and Scouts were self-motivated and took it from there. “The children love to help out people who they can relate with,” Neil says.

Volunteering – individually or together as a family is a way for children to learn values like kindness, empathy, respect, friendliness and tolerance. Let’s face it – aren’t these the values we want for the next generation?
 
They need YOU!

The organisations listed here would love to have your family’s support. Alternatively, visit www.govolunteer.com.au for an extensive list of not-for profit organisations seeking volunteers.

Girl Guides Phone: 07 3252 3061 or visit: www.guidesqld.org

Junior Landcare Phone: 07 3211 4413 or visit: www.landcare.org.au

Leukaemia Foundation of Queensland Phone: 07 3318 4477 or visit: www.leukemia.org.au
 
Planet Ark Phone: 02 8484 7200 or visit: www.planetark.com

National Tree Day Phone: 1300 88 5000 or visit: www.treeday.planetark.org
 
Rotary Club Phone: 02 9635 3537 or visit: www.rotary.org.au

RSPCA Phone: 07 3426 9915 or visit: www.rspcaqld.com.au

Salvation Army Phone: 13 SALVOS (13 72 58) or visit: www.salvos.org.au

Scouts Phone: 1800 SCOUTS or visit: www.scoutsqld.com.au

St Vincent de Paul Phone: 07 3010 1000 or visit: www.vinnies.org.au and follow the links to Vinnie’s Youth

World Vision Phone: 13 32 40 or visit: www.worldvision.com.au