Gap year volunteering creates rewarding opportunities for young and old
Have you decided what course you are going to do at university? Or are you planning on taking some time off? If you answered yes to the second question, what sorts of things will you be doing? If holidays are not your cup of tea, then why not try volunteering during your gap year? It can be rewarding and will also give you something to do while you decide on university. Listed here are some opportunities for gap year volunteering that you might try your hand at.
Environmental conservation for gap year volunteering
If you are in Adelaide, there is the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary. They offer some amazing experiences (take it from someone who knows!) such as patrolling the Port River for Dolphins and making sure they are not injured.
Volunteers Australia has some community and conservation volunteering opportunities too. There are weed blitzes, urban biodiversity conservation projects, and volunteering in schools to name a few.
Other organisations are the Wildlife Conservancy, Wilderness Society and Conservation Volunteers who all offer volunteering during your gap year around Australia.
Community volunteering for gap years
If you have a dog, there are opportunities to take your dog into schools and have children read to it.
There are many opportunities also to volunteer in retail to gain some valuable experience in community service.
You could also become a group support volunteer to lend a hand to people struggling in their communities to be more connected. This could be through the Salvation Army or other similar organisation.
Other organisations include the Guide Dogs, Australian Red Cross, Lifesavers or St Vincent de Paul’s.
And if both of these are not what you want, there is always volunteering abroad which would also be quite rewarding in itself. It would allow you to see more of the world before you knuckle down to study hard once more.
These are just some of the opportunities for you to undertake volunteering during your gap year. There are countless ways you can become involved in your community and get out into nature. Many volunteer organisations welcome any new volunteers. So, what’s stopping you? For more information or to become involved just google search for opportunities in your local area. There is bound to be something you might enjoy!
