Nicki Turner

Volunteering Support and Engagement Advisor

Nicki was born and bred in Tauranga but has been away for 30 years, working in Pukekohe in the disabled and social service sector. She worked for Blind Low Vision in Needs Assessment for the midcentral area, and for IHC.

She and her husband took off for Australia for five years, working short term and travelling around the country. Her husband, a farmer, decided to semi-retire from farming and Nicki returned to the same job with Blind Low Vision when they returned to Tauranga in November 2023.

“I’ve always been involved in the volunteer space. It’s just what we do, we’re a family of volunteers. I’m looking forward to connecting with the local community and rebuilding networks having been away so long.”
She lives at Pyes Pā, but her favourite thing to do is walk their springer spaniel on the beach at the Mount.

Reach out to Nicki on nicki@socialink.org.nz or 021 225 2994

Making the most of their abilities

At Casita’s shop in Greerton, four young workers in their twenties are taking their lunch break. They’re all volunteers at the shop, one or two days a week, and they all have an intellectual disability, either global developmental delay or Down Syndrome. And they love their work. The shop was set up in a

By |2023-06-19T10:14:24+12:00June 18th, 2023|Volbop News, Volunteer Stories|Comments Off on Making the most of their abilities

Mel pitches in when emergency strikes

When the water started rising at Waihī Beach last month, local RSA manager and community volunteer Mel Gearon was ready to rescue flooded residents - and give them a hot meal and a place to rest. It was raining hard on May 29 at the beach when Mel had a call from a friend

By |2023-06-20T16:12:50+12:00June 18th, 2023|Volbop News, Volunteer Stories|Comments Off on Mel pitches in when emergency strikes

Aquinas youngsters busy volunteering

Students from Aquinas College have ditched the school books for the day and are out in the community volunteering this week. It’s Youth Volunteering Week, and the students are spending the day doing service for others. Four of them are at The Kollective getting messy cleaning chairs used by the many social agencies which

By |2023-06-23T16:43:28+12:00May 23rd, 2023|News, Updates, Volbop News|Comments Off on Aquinas youngsters busy volunteering

Results are out! Volunteer Survey 2022

Volunteer Survey February 2022 – The Results   Here at Volunteering Bay of Plenty we are always keen to know what Volunteers are thinking and what’s important to them. What better way to find that out than to ask directly, so we ran a survey in January and are now pleased to be able to

By |2022-05-02T00:19:05+12:00April 6th, 2022|blogs, Volbop News|Comments Off on Results are out! Volunteer Survey 2022

Should Volunteers Ever Be Paid?

That might sound like an odd question. After all, a Volunteer is someone who works without expecting to be paid, right? Maybe it isn’t always quite that simple. We tend to think of Volunteers as generous people who give up their time to work for charities and community organisations, their only reward being the satisfaction

By |2022-02-01T02:17:39+13:00January 31st, 2022|blogs, Volbop News|Comments Off on Should Volunteers Ever Be Paid?

Leading Volunteers through Major Change

It’s tough to lead a team through times of massive change. It’s even harder when they're Volunteers.Most humans dislike change, especially when it’s unexpected and will potentially make life harder. Whether it’s a pandemic, a global economic meltdown or major natural disaster the instinct is to hide or run. Good Volunteer Managers don’t do either

By |2021-11-30T06:56:28+13:00November 30th, 2021|blogs, Volbop News|Comments Off on Leading Volunteers through Major Change

Do Great Volunteers Make Great Employees?

There are many reasons job seekers should consider Volunteering to boost their career or increase their chances of landing a great new role. There are also some very good reasons why Volunteering experience can be attractive to employers. That’s where we’ll focus in this article. What makes a great employee? When you have an important

By |2021-11-28T22:53:53+13:00November 1st, 2021|blogs, Volbop News|Comments Off on Do Great Volunteers Make Great Employees?

Effective Volunteer Management – Challenging for Smaller Organisations

Getting the right Volunteers on board is crucial. When you follow the *6 Steps to find the ideal Volunteers for your organisation, you’ll have access to some wonderful people on board, ready and excited to help you change the world. I wrote about that in my blog last month - it’s only the first step.

By |2021-10-05T21:55:42+13:00October 3rd, 2021|blogs, Volbop News|Comments Off on Effective Volunteer Management – Challenging for Smaller Organisations

Toi-Ohomai Windermere Campus Orientation Day

Toi-Ohomai Windermere Campus Orientation Day brought an eager crowd despite the weather. We added sixteen inspiring students to our database which will allow them access to the 100 roles we currently have available for Volunteers.  Response to our presence at the Toi-Ohomai Mokoia Campus Orientation Day in Rotorua was just as encouraging where we

By |2021-08-31T08:16:44+12:00August 31st, 2021|Updates, Volbop News|Comments Off on Toi-Ohomai Windermere Campus Orientation Day

6 Steps to Find Your Ideal Volunteers

This may sound a little strange, but in my experience, finding and recruiting the ideal Volunteers for non-profit organisations is a lot like a marketing campaign. It takes a clear strategy, thorough planning and a deep understanding of the people you are trying to reach and recruit. You may well already have your overall

By |2021-08-30T04:20:31+12:00August 28th, 2021|blogs, Volbop News|Comments Off on 6 Steps to Find Your Ideal Volunteers
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