Celebrating National Volunteer Week: Little Dreamers

To celebrate all the people who volunteer their time to help across the country, we spoke to some of the not-for-profit organisations around Australia who rely on volunteers to make a world of difference.

Today we talk to Maddie from Little Dreamers an organisation ensuring every young carer has someone to care for them. Through holiday programs, an online hub, mentoring, and other support services. Little Dreamers strives to make sure that no young carer is disadvantaged or left behind.

When was Little Dreamers started?

Little Dreamers was officially launched ten years ago this May, in 2009. The organisation is now Australia’s leading young carer organisation, supporting young people between the ages of four and 25 across six direct support programs around the country. Developed by young carers for young carers. Little Dreamers strives to make sure that no young carer is disadvantaged or left behind.

What is its mission?

By supporting and highlighting young carers’ innate skills, Little Dreamers is creating a world where these people are valued by the wider community, empowered by their caring role, and supported to achieve better emotional health and wellbeing. Our vision is simple: to ensure that every single young carer around the world is supported by someone or something by 2030.

Growing up as a young carer for my younger brother, who had a range of chronic health conditions, allergies, and learning difficulties, I saw a gap in the family support: who was caring for the other siblings in these families? Inspired by my own experience and challenges, I began fundraising at the age of nine, and this passion eventually manifested as a business plan for Little Dreamers.

How many volunteers do you rely on at the moment?

Little Dreamers currently has 50 volunteers whose roles vary from mentoring, events, holiday programs, admin, and team leadership.

Why do you need volunteers to help your NFP?

Little Dreamers employs the help of volunteers across all of our support programs. Our mentoring program allows volunteers from a range of backgrounds and skill sets to be personally matched with one young carer and establish a meaningful ongoing relationship. Volunteers also assist with setting up and managing events; school holiday programs, where they’re able to spend time with young carers in a fun environment; and our Big Dreamers Personal Development Program, where they lead three to four young carers over a period of six months in leadership, business and growth workshops.  

We believe positive role models are vital in a young person’s development. Having amazing and passionate volunteers is something we pride ourselves on and gives both young carers and volunteers the opportunity to feed off and learn from one another. It means that we can maximise the quality of our programs and invest in developing systems that make our organisation the most effective it can be.

If you had more volunteers what would you do with them?

More volunteers would expand the reach of Little Dreamers to more areas, including the development of our rural programs. With more volunteer support, we could increase capacity at our school holiday programs and events, run programs in different states and areas which we are yet to reach, and have a greater presence and awareness in all corners of the country. Volunteers provide a fantastic support network, and help us learn new things as well!

Tell me about the most memorable volunteer you’ve had and why?

Darren works at a non-profit real estate organisation and has been volunteering with Little Dreamers for almost a year. We matched Darren as a mentor for 12-year-old young carer Alex, who is the primary carer for his mother. Darren provides much needed support, regular communication, and companionship for Alex, who often finds it difficult to connect with people his age who don’t fully comprehend his situation. The two catch up fortnightly, be it playing basketball, going to the movies, or just walking the dog. Darren has also been a great support at Little Dreamers events; as an auctioneer, he ran our live auction at our tenth birthday.

If you’d like to support Little Dreamers, you can volunteer here For more information on how Xero supports volunteers and not-for-profits, check out the Xero non-profits web page.

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Source: Xero Blog