Community Response Volunteers

Community Link are coordinating a group of volunteers who can help in times of significant adverse events.

Without the commitment of devoted and skilled volunteers, services to the wider community in the event of an emergency would be severely restricted. Volunteers fulfil a range of roles in an emergency, including rescue, relief and welfare services and come from all walks of life. Devoting your time to volunteering in this way can be both rewarding and challenging.

This can be a great way to learn some new skills, give back to your community and form long-lasting friendships, particularly if you're new to a community. Not only will you learn about the risks and hazards in your area but you will also learn the skills to be able to assist our community during an emergency event.

Community Link will be working with our Local Emergency Management Team to support their work, and offer training opportunities where available.

Right now we just want to capture a list of willing volunteers and the skills that they have - so that we can start to formalise a Community Response Team.

Types of Community Volunteers

Volunteers on the day (VOD) are people who turn up when a disaster happens and offer to help. VOD are largely used for tasks that don’t require specific training. VOD may assist with tasks such as silt removal from private properties, delivering information brochures to residents, delivering food to vulnerable people.

Welfare Team Volunteers (WT) will work with Community Link (under the guidance of Waimate Emergency Management) to support people needing assistance, and may provide help with accommodation, clothing, food (catering), pets, information and other kinds of support.

To get involved please fill out the following form and one of our staff will be in contact within 14 days to get further information about the skills you can share, resources and any other relevant information

Thank you for helping us help our community.