Homed Homed has always known he wanted to work with people. He discovered part-way through an Applied Science degree that the course wasn’t helping him to realise that goal.
Homed went travelling and returned to study a Bachelor of Community Development – a much better fit.
Homed started his Sacred Heart Mission journey through our Student Placement Program in 2021, completing his final placement in the Volunteer Program, alongside other students working across the organisation.
He loved seeing the energy amongst our staff, and really valued everyone’s dedication to the organisation and community.
The Volunteer Program connects and places volunteers across Sacred Heart Mission programs and areas where they are needed most.
The team also looks after compliance, and inducting volunteers into the organisation so they feel comfortable to work in their roles.
“We couldn’t do everything we do as an organisation without our volunteers,” says Homed.
As part of his placement, Homed took on the responsibility of coordinating plans for National Volunteer Week in May 2021. It was important to recognise and thank our volunteers, even though we couldn’t hold an event in person due to Covid.
“We organised branded tote bags for all our volunteers, which included a little bag of seeds and coffee gift cards from local businesses,” Homed says. “My role was coordinating all of this with our stakeholders and getting good deals for the gifts. It was a big responsibility!”
After placement, Homed was hired as a casual staff member, and then stepped up into a permanent role. His main responsibilities now are to support the Dining Hall volunteers – organising the rosters and ensuring everyone has the tools and education they need to volunteer.
He also looks after new volunteer applications and helps connect them with the best fitting volunteer opportunity. He enjoys problem solving, learning new things and getting to know our volunteers. Homed says the role has greatly boosted his self-confidence.
Homed looks forward to the Dining Hall re-opening and having new volunteers join our ranks. Preparing for this is an exciting part of his role, “Seeing how much the Dining Hall means to our volunteers and the clients, it will be great to re-open and bring life back to the place,” he says.
Homed finds our volunteers’ kindness and ingenuity inspiring: “They reorganise their schedules to fill shifts, they email and ask if there is anything they can do to help. It’s wonderful.”
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