A popular quote, " Volunteers do not necessarily have time; they have the HEART!" truly summarises the priceless involvement that, volunteers bring to Shanti Niwas. Our volunteers are the backbone of running various programmes effectively. We truly appreciate their love and the passion they bring for the cause and wish they continue to provide voluntary service for the years to come.

Our volunteer base constitutes young and elderly, male and female, and varied motivation for joining the organization. Though involved in different types of volunteering, they form a cohesive unit and support in smooth implementation of programs and services.

Shanti Niwas Volunteers assist with various activities:

• Activity Vounteers support developing and conducting activities in our Positive Ageing Day Programme. They help with exercises, prayers, greetings, sessions with an elderly focus, friendly games, and other fun activities. These activities support the seniors in reliving their childhood memories, becoming more active, and making new friends. We believe this also helps the volunteers in their own personal development of managing the group. Khursheed Bohra, Rose Fernandes, Alaudin Mitha, Rajendra Verma, Sashi Verma, Zinobia Patel, Sushma Thakur.
• Kitchen Volunteers provide volunteering service in preparing mouth-watering, healthy Indian tea, snacks, and lunch for the seniors. They also run around to make sure all elderly have been provided with nutritious and healthy meals. We must add here, our elderly also sometimes bring delicious and tasty snacks out of their love for the group. We thank Jyoti Mohan, Sushila Jeevan, Jasuben, Aney Sharma, Yasmin Mitha, Neelam More
• Event Voulunteers from the core group with the staff in supporting and organising the events of Shanti Niwas held at different centres including, at our Onehunga Centre. They do the background the venue, food management, receiving guests, music and sound coordination and most importantly uploading the photos and videos of the events. Without them, we couldn't have managed to run any of the events effectively. We thank Uttam Kumar, Meenakshi Kumar, Sanjay Wazirani, Firdaus Patel, Neelam Vadhera, Sashi Khattar, Madhav Pradhan
• Transport Voluntteers support the organization in bringing the elderly from their home to the respective centres. They form the backbone for the elderly who due to various physical reasons are unable to come on their own via train or bus. These volunteers bring the elderly safely and timely to the centres and drop them off at their respective homes. We thank Jasvir Singh
• DOSTI Voluntteers provide valuable support in the success of the visiting services for homebound seniors. The objective is to support the elderly in reducing their isolation by having a culturally specific conversation as a friend. These volunteers are required to sign a confidentiality agreement for ensuring client data confidentially and a police clearance. We provide training on what and how to interact, discuss with the seniors and a list of 'Dos and Dont's'.
  
  We thank Chetan Patel, Leila Vincent, Malvika Shah, Joshu Patel, Ishwar Vayeda, Madhav, Sudha Satija, Myra D’Souza, Aurie
• SAKHI Volunteers support in running the Women Prison's Project, by visiting the South Asian women in the prison. These Volunteers, who come with real-life experiences, help the women prisoners to look at the aspect of living and ways of rehabilitating back into society. All our volunteers are seniors, cleared by NZ police and trained by the Corrections department prior to their meetings with the women prisoners. We thank Leela Vincent, Minoo Verghese
• Knitting Volunteers run an interesting initiative of knitting woollen clothes for newborn babies and donating them to the Middlemore Hospital on regular basis. The elderly volunteers do everything, from raising funds to purchasing woollen yarns, and knitting clothes. The knitting is usually done at the centres and some volunteers also continue meeting at each other's homes for knitting as a leisure activity. We thank Sarla Prakas, Savita Bhatnagar, Rajni Kailey, Anuradha Joshi, Shanta Garg, Uma Chaturvedi, Sudesh Gupta and Vimelesh Jain.
• Community Safety Ambassadors as the volunteers are called, form an important part of the project with the same name. This project was started in 2014 in collaboration with NZ Police to disseminate information and messages about safety tips from the police. These volunteers are special since the project was formed to involve seniors themselves by becoming the Community Safely Ambassadors and supporting the police run the campaign effectively. The campaigns include visiting homes and shops interacting with people on their route and providing feedback to the police.
  
  We thank Vidya Devarajan, Hemlata Eden, Suhag Rani Garg, Krishen Sharma, Amita Sahrawat, John Gonsalves.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please CLICK HERE