This week, being National Volunteer Week, we are thanking our amazing young people who come in every week and participate in a variety of meetings and events. We are immensely proud of these young people. The theme for National Volunteer Week this year is “the change-makers”. This feels very accurate for the group we have here at YO Bendigo. Our Youth Council, the YO Events team and the YO Media team are always finding ways to make changes and improve the City of Greater Bendigo.

The City of Greater Bendigo hosted a Volunteers Morning Tea and there was a wonderful turnout from a variety of people who volunteer for the City including some of our young people. Mayor Cr Andrea Metcalf and Youth Mayor Ryan Peterson gave some fantastic speeches to start the morning tea and then there was time to mingle with the other people.

Youth Mayor Ryan Peterson said during his speech “For young people, volunteering helps create pathways to employment, opportunities to develop skills, opportunities for networking and meet new people, opportunities to try something new or test possible career options, opportunities to advocate for a cause, and crucially improve their employability.” We are honoured to offer these opportunities to the young people in our community and hope they use what they learn with us to approach life in a new way.