Environmental volunteering gets thumbs up!

The first group to enrol in the nine week ‘Improving wellbeing through environmental volunteering’ program has completed it and declared the program a resounding success.

This free program provides a taste of some of the Island’s environmental volunteer activities and explores the personal, health and employment benefits of environmental volunteering. There is a mix of indoor and outdoor activities and lunch and transport to volunteer sites is provided.

Most participants reported improved wellbeing, an increased understanding of the environment on Kangaroo Island and have enjoyed meeting new people and participating in a group.

Participants commented,

“It was very interesting as I’ve always seen it from the agricultural side so was good to see it from another side.”

“Feels great to be contributing to the community”

“The group came from a good cross-section of the community and the speakers were all very interesting.”

“You question sometimes whether there’s anything you can give to the community but (this program made me realise) most people do have something.”

Feedback from the group was that they wanted more time spent ‘getting dirty’ in hands-on activities. The second program which starts in February has been designed to provide more of these opportunities.

Registrations are now open for the next program which runs from 4 February to 8 April 2014, held on Tuesdays from 9:30am–2:30pm in Kingscote. No experience is necessary and the program is open to all adults. However, be quick to register as there is a maximum of 10 participants in each program.

For more information or to register your interest, please contact Robyn Molsher at the Natural Resources Centre, by 17 January 2014.

The program is a joint initiative by Natural Resources Kangaroo Island, Kangaroo Island Health Service, Eco-Action, Regional Development Australia and Finding Workable Solutions. It is supported by the KI NRM Board and funded under the State NRM Community Grant scheme.