Gold Coast community clubs the key to Games volunteers

The fifty Gold Coast clubs are part of a promise of volunteers throughout the State to hinder a downward trend in volunteering, delivering a very necessary impulse for the organizers of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In the same way, as local volunteers will surely have a great demand with the Gold Coast prepared to receive hockey, triathlons and part of the athletes village.

The Queensland community clubs, including sports, surf and RSL rescue clubs, have promised the largest volunteer base in the state to boost the number of Olympic and Paralympic volunteers when officials try to stop a worrying trend before 2032.

Clubs Queensland, which represents 1290 community clubs, including 50 on the coast of Gold, has said the state government’s investigation on volunteering that 2032 games that organizers can learn from the experience of Sydney’s 2000 games when community clubs were the backbone of a voluntary movement accelerated for their friendship, visibility and efficiency.

The state government is conducting an investigation into the volunteer in Queensland, with a public hearing that ends in Brisbane last week before the final report that will be presented in September. The investigation has already heard that the number of total volunteers in Queensland has fallen by 10 percent since 2020 and the total volunteer hours each month has dropped almost 20 percent.

The 2032 Games will require a voluntary army that, unlike Sydney games, must be extended through the cities of Queensland with Olympic events planned from the gold coast to the Great Brisbane, Towoomba, Sunshine Coast, Maryborough, Rockhampton, Mackay, Whitsundys, Townsville and Cairns.

Clubs Queensland provided a presentation to the investigation and appeared to the audience during a session at Towoomba last week. Clubs Queensland told research that the voluntary numbers of community clubs had decreased but not at the same rate as volunteers from other fields.

“Queensland community clubs are formed by all forms of sports clubs, RSL clubs and services, surfing clubs of Lifesaving, racing clubs and all forms of social clubs, of special and cultural interest,” said the Queensland Club CEO, Kelly Egan.

“Together, community clubs mobilize a base of 41,500 queenslanders, which represents the largest volunteer base in the state. The most important thing is that our Collegiate club can and continues to support that base tangibly.

“Without the ‘army’ of volunteers of the club industry, community clubs simply could not operate. Volunteers are the heart and spine of many clubs. They contribute so that they allow clubs to prosper, ensuring that they can serve their members, maintain operations that foster participation and offer a sense of connection and purpose.

“They are good in what they do and have a lot to offer as part of the coordination of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.

Clubs Queensland has argued with clubsnsw officials about how their volunteers helped in the success of Sydney games. Clubs Queensland has offered to inform Queensland government about those learning that included ideas about community clubs that transport their volunteers to the destinations of the games.

Clubs Queensland has recommended that the state government establish a working group to explore volunteer opportunities with community clubs and other sectors, focusing on the necessary volunteer roles, transferable skills of existing volunteers and transport capacity.

“Anyone who went to Sydney Games came out with a story about the wonderful work that the volunteers did through the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Egan said.

“The 2032 games have a different challenge due to their decentralization, but community clubs are in each part of the state, so we are well equipped to help.

“We want this state to shine in 2032 and that will require useful and friendly faces to keep the games working without problems. Queenslanders are up to work and community clubs will be there to help, as they do every day.”

In a broader presentation on volunteer to state government investigationClubs Queensland described that the decrease in the number of volunteers was affected by major volunteers who retreated and were not replaced by younger people along with insurance cost problems and growing compliance requirements.

“The youngest queenslanders in clubs report that job commitments, family responsibilities and other commitments are the main reasons why they do not have time to participate in a voluntary role,” reads the presentation.

“Our comments indicate that with the current cost of living pressures, the youngest queenslanders must prioritize the work paid to ensure that they can survive.”

Clubs Queensland recommended several initiatives to increase the number of volunteers that include:

• Formalization of Carrera Volunteer Programs

• Financial incentives in the form of concessions, including fiscal deductions for pocket expenses

• Corporate volunteer opportunities

• Infrastructure improvement and volunteer recognition

• Promotion of volunteer opportunities for young Queenslanders

“We need to take this problem seriously and analyze the practical measures to increase the volunteer number,” Egan said.

“The decrease in volunteer rates has a domino effect. Less volunteers exert pressure on the remaining volunteers, resulting in an exhaustion of volunteers that compound decrease volunteer rates.”

For the numbers:

• Clubs Queensland represents 1290 community clubs in Queensland.

• These clubs have 4.1 million combined memberships.

• These clubs use more than 34,000 people.

• These clubs return more than $ 549 million in community contributions.

• These clubs generate annual economic activity valued at more than $ 2.5 billion for the state economy.

About Queensland clubs

• The clubs in Queensland are non -profit organizations based on membership that provide services to the members and the local community.

• The surplus generated by clubs is used to provide important and highly valued services in their surrounding communities and for visitors to their region. This support includes cash contributions, non -monetary benefits, community assets and volunteer mobilization.

• Clubs are important community centers for social interaction and commitment. Members have a shared sense of values ​​and belonging, strengthening the social fabric and promotes a strong community cohesion.