The number of Victorians doing volunteer work has declined by almost a quarter, according to Census figures released this week.
More than 931,000 people reported volunteering in Victoria in 2016 — but that number fell to 712,003 last year.
For some individual charities, the decline has been even sharper.
Sunassist Volunteer Helpers provides meals on wheels, disability transport for health appointments, and friendly visits for elderly residents among a range of other services to its approximately 5,000 clients.
Already a significant chunk of the Mildura population, the client base continues to grow by about 40 new referrals every month.
But its volunteer numbers have fallen by at least half.
"Obviously, we need to increase our services as the needs of the community increase, but it's really difficult because our funding doesn't actually increase," executive officer Richard Garlick said.
Mr Garlick said between 100 and 150 volunteers had stayed on throughout the pandemic, down from 300.
Most of Sunassist's volunteers were over the age of 65 and at increased risk of COVID, so they stayed home to stay safe.
Some were no longer able to drive, while others were taking long-delayed road trips and holidays now that state borders were open.
"Our volunteer workforce isn't what it used to be prior to COVID, and we're asking more and more of our existing volunteers who have stuck with us," Mr Garlick said.
"We don't want to put too much pressure on our existing volunteers because that's just the way they are. They'll just keep putting their hand up, saying: 'Yep, I'll do that, I'll do that'.
Mr Garlick said Sunassist had already had to reduce one of its services.
"We recently had to make a decision because we were having so many people with disabilities under 65 requiring transport to get to supported employment and day programs," he said.
"A lot of those clients were accessing the service five days a week.
Mr Garlick said Sunassist was considering cutting back other services.
"That's something that we've looked at, so that we know that we're concentrating on the services that we know we do and do well," he said.
"We've got to maintain the quality service, not just the numbers service."
Sunassist staff are meeting this week to discuss further options.
But Mr Garlick said there was a bright future on the horizon.
Sunassist was developing a property next to its existing Mildura base, which would be a new location for food preparation, affordable community meals, and a shared vegetable garden.
He said the garden was one of the ways long-time volunteers could continue to be part of the community after they were no longer able to drive.
A sense of identity and worth
Mr Garlick said participating in Sunassist was an important part of the identity and wellbeing for many volunteers.
"People are very proud to put on the Sunassist shirts and jackets, and hats et cetera," he said.
Mr Garlick said there were a series of opportunities and vacancies for new volunteers to fill — even for an hour or two a week.
He urged anyone who was interested to get in touch.
"Volunteering is such a worthy way of giving back to your community," he said.
"There are not many people [in Mildura] who wouldn't know either a client or someone who volunteers at Sunassist, whether that's a neighbour, aunt, uncle, grandfather.
"This is just a really great opportunity for people to be part of something that's really special."
To celebrate 90 years of the ABC connecting communities, we've partnered with Volunteering Australia to encourage Australians to come together and make a pledge: 90 minutes of kindness in your community. Make the pledge and share your #ABC90for90 with your friends, family and colleagues.
