Thank you Volunteers!
Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd May 2021 is marked as Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteers. At Living Positive Victoria, we recognise that our volunteers make our communities stronger.
Regarded as one of the best in the world, Australia’s effective response to HIV/AIDS would cease to cease to exist if not from the tireless, dedicated and passionate leadership of the numerous volunteers who had and continue to hold up our communities today.
Volunteers during the HIV/AIDS crisis came and have continued to come from people of diverse lived-experiences, genders, sexuality and ethnicities and its through this multiplicity that we’re able to continue as a resilient movement 40 years after Australia’s brush with HIV/AIDS.
Today, this legacy continues through all of our volunteers.
“Volunteers are the lifeblood of our community and they come from all walks of life,” adds Living Positive Victoria’s Volunteer Coordinator, Dimitri Daskalakis.
“Regardless of HIV status, our volunteers contribute to every part of our organisation.”
“Whether staffing the reception desk; meeting & greeting at events and festivals; sharing their story and providing education through our Positive Speaker’s Bureau; running peer-run workshops like Phoenix for people-newly diagnosed; running events, and participating at a Board level, our organisation is proud to embrace the volunteer ethos wholly.”
We can’t thank our volunteers enough for their tireless work and dedication for helping keep our organisation at the forefront of the HIV response here in Victoria.
Reflecting on the disastrous effects of COVID-19, Dimitri stresses, “last year we had a huge dent in our organisation because of COVID-19; most of last year we haven’t been able to run activities and see each other in-person and this has affected all of our volunteers. This month, we’ve just finished our first volunteer induction for the year and I’m looking forward to continue reinvigorating our volunteer program at our next induction this coming October.”
If you want to help us create a world where people living with HIV live their lives to their full potential, in good health and free from discrimination, join our volunteer program today.
Help celebrate Volunteer Week with us by reading the book, “In The Eye of the Story: Volunteers and Australia’s response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis” by Robert Reynolds Shirleene Robinson and Paul Sendziuk. Order your own copy today from Hares & Hyena today.