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Volunteers urged to register to help with COVID-19 crisis

Tasmanians are being urged to register to volunteer as part of a coordinated response to the pandemic.

Volunteering Tasmania CEO Lisa Schimanski has welcomed funding from the State Government to coordinate an emergency volunteering response to COVID-19.

‘The Government’s funding enables us to gear up our emergency volunteering system (EVCREW) to respond to the pandemic.

‘We are mobilising the 1200 emergency volunteers who have registered to respond to natural disasters to now switch to the pandemic response.

‘We are also redeploying volunteers from other organisations, and recruiting more Tasmanians who are willing to help.’

Tasmanian organisations rely on volunteers to deliver a range of essential services such as community transport, meal delivery, social connection, and shopping.

‘There is a real risk that our numbers of volunteers will decline as more people self-isolate.

‘Many of these organisations have volunteers who are over 65 years old and are now much more vulnerable to the virus and are being asked to self-isolate.

‘We will need more volunteers to make sure the more vulnerable members of our community can get the help they need.’

Volunteers will be needed for a range of tasks including food packaging, shopping, dropping off food and medical supplies and community transport.

‘Those people who are older and not able to travel can still help out by making phone calls to check on the welfare of isolated people.’

‘It is vital that volunteering is done safely in line with government requirements. Our organisations that support volunteers are well equipped to make sure that everyone is safe.

‘We will continue to work with our emergency volunteers and organisations so we can direct our efforts to the areas of greatest need in our community.’

We encourage any organisations that need volunteers to contact Volunteering Tasmania.

Register

Tasmanians who now wish to volunteer can register for EVCREW.

Phone 1800 677 895