International Volunteer Day

Josh Price feels perfectly at home in front of a computer. His passion for all things IT  has led to him volunteering his time and expertise to support an IT project at genU.

Josh is one of the latest volunteers to join the genU Volunteer Program, which had more than 170 volunteers serving in the 2023-2024 financial year.

With International Volunteer Day recognised on Thursday 5 December, CEO Clare Amies said it was another opportunity for genU to acknowledge the incredible effort and commitment from people in Victoria and Tasmania wanting to support their community.

“Every year we are blessed with volunteers willing to give up their time selflessly and this year has been no different,” Ms Amies said. “Our volunteers donated about 8,000 hours to helping in a variety of ways and we are grateful for this contribution.”  

Josh, 21, can still recall his first time in front of a computer “like it was yesterday”, and it wasn’t only what was on the screen that intrigued him, he wanted to see the literal nuts and bolts inside and how everything linked.

“I remember opening it up and seeing all the little bits and trying to figure out where it all went, how it all worked, how it all connected together, and I realised where the mechanics led to,” he said. “It opened up a whole other world – computers are very much like a toolbox or a big puzzle.”

Josh is volunteering at St Laurence Park retirement village in Lara, and eager to showcase his skills on the IT project. Every Tuesday, Josh is busy scanning hard copy files into the system to make way for a new software program.

With Josh relying on a wheelchair for mobility, it was important the right working environment was established at St Laurence so Josh felt comfortable and could perform at his best. A small desktop scanner was sourced and lowered to allow him easy access for scanning in files.

Although he is only new to the task, Josh enjoys the aspect of taking the paper files and turning them into a digital asset.   

A Lara resident, Josh connected with genU during his final year of school a few years back.

“I first started here when I was in year 12 at Lara Secondary College and doing work placement,” he said. “When I was doing placement, I wondered what genU did, and volunteering came up in one of the conversations.”

Josh made such an impression during placement, genU staff encouraged him to return one day to make a further impact on his local community.

After taking an IT course at The Gordon this year, Josh joined the volunteer program. He sees it as a two-way street, acquiring skills and using his IT knowledge to help with the project, on a path to his long-term goal of a career following his passion. 

“Getting a job in IT has been the goal for me for 15 years,” he said.

Ms Amies said the volunteer program finding a role that fit Josh’s passion, was another example of genU making every connection count and helping to enrich lives.

“We couldn’t be happier to have Josh volunteering with us,” she said. “The team at St Laurence Park instantly gravitated to Josh’s positive can-do attitude, and in particular his enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

“His bubbly personability is infectious, allowing him to easily connect with staff and residents within St Laurence Park Retirement Village.

“He is a wonderful person, and we are grateful for him enthusiastically applying his skills to help us with this project.” 

For more information about the genU Volunteer Program, you can visit Volunteering Opportunities Available At genU – Join Today.