Volunteering

Our volunteer programme actively and positively furthers The Selwyn Foundation's mission to support and care for ageing people.

Over 200 volunteers enhance the lives of our Selwyn Centre guests, residents of Selwyn Village and clients in our day centres, giving them greater opportunities to share their knowledge and life experiences, develop ongoing friendships with like-minded individuals, have fun, and engage with other people in a creative and meaningful way.

Our skilled and talented volunteers have the opportunity to take on a wide range of roles. They may be personal history writers, befrienders, activity assistants, pianists and drivers. Local parents bring their babies and toddlers to visit as part of the Baby Buddies programme. Pet owners bring their dogs to brighten up our people's days, through pet therapy programmes. All of which makes every day a special day for our elders. Please note that some pet therapy programmes may have been suspended due to COVID-19, you can check directly with the organisations via the links below.

Baby Buddies programme

Once a week Selwyn Village is filled with the laughter of little children.

Our Baby Buddies programme, sees local mums, dads and their babies and toddlers visit the village. Not only does playing and singing songs with the little ones lifting people’s spirits, it can even ease the symptoms of some age-related illnesses.

We're currently looking for more families to join this group. If you and your baby would like to spend time with our residents, contact the Selwyn Village Baby Buddies on their Facebook page.

Pet Therapy programme

There are a number of organisations providing Outreach Pet Therapy programmes where volunteers bring along screened animals to brighten up someone’s day. If you're interested in becoming a pet therapy volunteer visit St John to apply. If you have completed the application process and training and would like to volunteer with us please call us on 0800 473 599.

Selwyn Centre Volunteering

We are looking for warm-hearted people to help with morning tea and activities at our Selwyn Centre mornings. If you have a morning free during the week and enjoy making a difference in the lives of elders in our communities we need your help.

Requirements:

Volunteers should be kind, empathetic, friendly, interested in people and their stories, non-judgmental and mature. Volunteers need to be reliable, must have patience, common sense and a sense of humour. Good communication skills are required and a very good standard of conversational English, as some of our guests have difficulty with hearing and communicating. Any creative talents are a plus but not necessary. A first aid certificate would be beneficial, however basic training can be provided.  A Police background check is required for this role.

Time commitment:

This will vary according to each Selwyn Centre. Most sessions are once a week on weekdays between 9:30am – 12 or 12:30. Apply here

For questions regarding volunteering during Covid-19 Alert Levels please click here.

Thank you for your interest in volunteering. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 Selwyn Village remains closed to volunteers until further notice. Meanwhile we encourage everyone to get vaccinated, if you haven’t done so already. All volunteers will need to be double vaccinated before visiting Selwyn Village. Stay safe, and take care.