In Australia, volunteers play important roles in all walks of life and provide many essential services, helping and enabling our communities to grow. Over the years, in the multi-discipline and multicultural community services provider, CASS, noble volunteers have played essential roles in all aspects of affairs, ranging from looking after governance, helping in day-to-day operation to providing casual support.

CASS is one of the pioneering groups in the CALD communities to have formal structure for volunteer management. With funding provided by the Multicultural NSW, in a co-designed project, UNSW Social Policy Research Centre and CASS have worked together since July 2021 studying how the CASS Volunteering Model works and the impact of volunteering on people who are socially isolated and likely suffering from loneliness. The project studied and evaluated the existing voluntary groups running on the CASS model to improve the wellbeing of seniors and their integration into life in Australia.

CASS Deputy Chairperson and Secretary, Mr. Anthony Pang, in his welcoming speech for the Report Launch Event on 7 September 2022, said “Volunteers have been the backbone of CASS from the initial formation until presently and will continue to play prominent roles. They have enabled our growth, sustainability and development over the last 41 years. The activity groups, run by our dedicated volunteers on a self-help mode have provided not only social support but also emotional support to participants thereby assisting them to break from social isolation.”

Ms Jenny Leong MP, State Member for Newtown, attended the event and she highly praised the dedication and commitment of the selfless volunteers. She said “There is high demand for volunteers in the community and CASS has nurtured volunteerism not only in the Chinese community but also the multicultural ones. I’m glad that CASS has been practising its own model of community volunteering and cultivated volunteers that are able to provide highly trained services and provide older people a channel to enhance their social participation.”

Dr Sue Regan, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Volunteering Australia, who was unable to attend the event in person but provided a video message congratulating and acknowledging the joint project and the contributions of all devoted volunteers.

The Research Report was presented by Professor Bingqin Li, Director of Chinese Social Policy Program of UNSW Social Policy Research Centre, followed by a Q&A session, where guests exchanged their valuable knowledge and insights.

The event was attended by about 70 people, including community leaders, professionals working in the associated field, Board and staff members and some members of activity groups of CASS. Everyone present was inspired by the stories from CASS senior volunteers, which highlighted their challenges and noble devotion to volunteering work and their endeavours to make the community a better place.

The joint project aims to initiate, foster, and sustain volunteerism in the Chinese communities and generate resources to support future practices. It also serves as an entry point for future research which will include other diverse CALD groups.

The full report will soon be available on CASS website: https://casscare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/CASS-Report-_last-day-before-launch-water-marked.pdf

Your comment is highly welcome and appreciated, please share your feedback to Professor Bingqin Li at bingqin.li@unsw.edu.au