be the change you want to see in the
world when I was six years old and I
started volunteering I never could have
imagined how this quote would guide over
a decade of my life now for those of you
who are curious that makes me just 18
and whilst I have a lot to learn one of
my biggest lessons and what I hope to
convey to you is that it only takes one
person one small genuine act to make a
huge difference
volunteering makes me happy it gives me
satisfaction to know that I’ve made a
difference in our society to have helped
someone else I was impressed by a fellow
TEDx speaker by the name of Mark Bezos
who we heard earlier when he said don’t
wait until you make your first million
to make a difference in somebody else’s
life if you have something to give give
it now not every day gives us the
opportunity to save a life but every day
we can affect one I often hear people
discuss volunteering and they desire to
be involved but they struggle with time
commitments the financial aspects and
the stigmas around volunteering
volunteering by its definition is time
we only given for the common good
without financial gain but it’s so much
more than this simple definition it can
be wonderfully rewarding a thankless
task a financial burden or a
regardless it is a task by what we
receive is far greater than what we are
able to contribute consider the dad who
mows his son’s soccer team pitch every
weekend the young girl who visits her
local retirement village to talk to
those who don’t have anyone else the man
who goes out in the streets of our
cities and feeds those in need or maybe
it’s the local Scout group who visit
their park every weekend to make sure
it’s clean and tidy for others it’s not
about what we do it’s not about the
magnitude or the accolades we receive
rather it’s about doing something with
purpose volunteering Queensland
estimates that 34 percent of Australia’s
adult population so roughly 5.4 million
people
volunteer in some form the economic
value of volunteers is incredible
a conservative estimate of the
contributions of volunteers if they
occurred in the salary earning workplace
was over eleven point six billion
dollars in the last year line yes you
heard right eleven point six billion
dollars in the last year alarm
governments cannot possibly fund what
our volunteers are able to contribute
indeed if a government had a spare
eleven point six billion dollars it
would solve a multitude of problems but
in reality they don’t and the
contributions that volunteers make on an
annual basis to both the community and
the individual are incredible I’m sure
many of you are familiar with the face
money makes the world go round well
that’s certainly true when we consider
how much of an impact these eleven point
six billion dollars worth of
now let’s look at volunteering as a
purely economic process because that’s
what it ultimately comes down to right
give five dollars for this raffle $20 to
build a well in Africa sure dollars to
buy a sausage for the local Rotary group
give an hour of your time for this
fundraiser and you get the picture so
often volunteering is viewed as an
obligation something that can be easily
fulfilled by giving a tax-deductible
donation or a gift now for those of you
who good with numbers in the room let me
run this by you you hire five people to
work a four-hour shift on a conservative
hospitality rate say sixteen dollars per
hour and you get them to run a barbecue
fundraiser for you you receive eight
hundred dollars and you’re open today to
donate four hundred eighty dollars worth
of profit to your course now consider
the same scenario and these same five
individuals but this time they’re all
volunteers now these individuals are
still worth three hundred and twenty
dollars but this time you’re able to
donate and purchase $800 worth of
comfort quilts and 2-pack pillow sets
for those doing it tough on our streets
this translates to seventeen lots of $39
quilts and 13 lots of 2-pack pillow sets
at $10 each which is valued at seven
hundred and ninety three dollars of your
$800 profit but now your donation is
priceless
I discovered this economic process at
the young age of 11 when I partnered
with my local supermarket to run a
barbecue fundraiser for those doing it
tough on our streets we managed to raise
in that $800 region and we purchased all
the quilts and blankets for those who
needed a warm place to stay during the
winter months
now these sausage sizzle fundraisers are
truly a classic Australian pastime
especially when they occur at a large
green hardware store which for the
purpose of this presentation shall
remain nameless now when we look at this
unnamed building there’s generally a
six-month wait to access their resources
because that’s the economic value of a
sausage sizzle fundraiser what may seem
like a relatively easy simple Sunday
afternoon activity can have a huge
impact when we consider how far these
resources can stretch and the impact
that they make on the individuals
receiving them small acts of
volunteering are about creating little
seeds of change and they’re contributing
to projects that make a bigger
difference on the overall impact on our
community I imagine some of you may be
wondering why I feel the need to address
the importance of volunteering when just
one act can seemingly generate such a
large amount of change what I’m yet to
address is the difficult task of
garnering support to feel these amazing
initiatives now I’ve already been
volunteering for 12 years of my short
life and I can tell you firsthand that
our volunteering sector is frankly
composed of older generations typically
individuals in their late 50s to early
70s so when we sit up the lack of
younger able-bodied generations coming
up to take their place and the
significant economic value of volunteers
that will be left behind we have a huge
challenge especially when we consider
that these younger generations are
facing higher living costs and lower
amounts of disposable income
furthermore when we consider how much it
is to become a part of an official
not-for-profit organization like rotary
at $300 or quota International at 190
dollars it’s understandable that younger
generations would question why they
would volunteer their time their
resources and sacrifice opportunities
where they could be being renew marae
today costs and further developing their
skills so what would it take to get a
community of willing volunteers of all
ages abilities and backgrounds if I
asked you to lifts up the top of your
head one of the most significant events
of 2011 what would your response be I
imagine some of you might have a little
bit of a hard time thinking back that
far but for myself and a lot of other
Queenslanders one of the most
significant events occurred at the
beginning of the year specifically
January I’m of course referring to the
infamous floods this single event
resulted in one of the greatest
volunteer efforts in our state’s history
an army of 55,000 volunteers came out of
the woodwork to support their
communities their neighbors and even
those they didn’t know we rallied as a
street to sweep out the damaged streets
we’ve rallied as a state to sweep out
damaged streets we’ve fund raised and
spent four hundred and forty million
dollars on the recovery effort we
cleared 400,000 tons of waste and debris
from affected areas and we cleaned over
four hundred and fifty eight kilometres
of stormwater drains now this is an
initiative we can all be very proud of
but why does it take a mammoth events
for us to be willing to support our
communities those we may not know and
lend a helping hand there’s clearly an
innate desire within us to want to help
others so why do we wait for a national
campaign or a significant weather event
before we act
how many of you use Facebook snapchat
Instagram or any other social media on
Facebook alone as a collective we spend
over three hundred eighty eight million
hours scrolling through our Facebook
feeds every day now for those of you who
enjoy the offerings of Netflix or
YouTube we consume two billion videos
every day now it’s put us into
perspective
it only took seven million hours to
build the Empire State Building and when
we consider how we could have used our
time by the time we’re done scrolling
through our Facebook feeds and getting
our daily fill of YouTube videos we
could have built 55 Empire State
building’s every single day pretty
amazing isn’t it volunteering and giving
to others doesn’t have to be a
significant time or financial commitment
it’s about finding those little
opportunities and those little pockets
within your day it’s about finding that
genuine passion and drive within
yourself to realize there is a social
need for each of us to volunteer and to
step up to the plate to become active
engaged citizens if you’re now thinking
okay maybe I could give it a go but
you’re still concerned about becoming an
official member of a not-for-profit
organization committing to all their
monthly meetings attending the events
and of course the cost of becoming a
member
let me tell you there are two types of
volunteering formal and informal formal
volunteering occurs when you’re directly
associated with an organization by our
membership or named affiliation informal
volunteering which can have just a
significant of an impact generally
occurs at the grassroot level and it
allows you to engage with opportunities
that you believe in and where you can
decide the level of commitment you are
willing and able to give volunteering
doesn’t have to be associated with
big-name established organizations
sometimes it’s just about finding a
person within your community who you can
help
you could organize a community social
event to create fellowship volunteer in
a soup kitchen help out backstage at
your children’s school musical any
number of things it doesn’t matter what
you choose doing something small and
with the intention of making a
difference creates a huge change and
then inspires others to do the same so
what am I trying to convey there is a
social need and responsibility for each
of us to invest in our communities to
volunteer and to become piled the
overall larger change
there are numerous avenues to be
explored and ways to be involved
volunteering is about discovering your
niche your passion and following through
and able what would it take for you to
act what’s stopping you from realizing
the change that you can be in the world
and helping to realize the vision that
small acts of volunteering do create
large waves of change in the words of
the Dalai Lama
just as ripples spread out when a single
pebble is dropped into water the actions
of individuals can have far-reaching
effects too
[Applause]
you [Music]
world when I was six years old and I
started volunteering I never could have
imagined how this quote would guide over
a decade of my life now for those of you
who are curious that makes me just 18
and whilst I have a lot to learn one of
my biggest lessons and what I hope to
convey to you is that it only takes one
person one small genuine act to make a
huge difference
volunteering makes me happy it gives me
satisfaction to know that I’ve made a
difference in our society to have helped
someone else I was impressed by a fellow
TEDx speaker by the name of Mark Bezos
who we heard earlier when he said don’t
wait until you make your first million
to make a difference in somebody else’s
life if you have something to give give
it now not every day gives us the
opportunity to save a life but every day
we can affect one I often hear people
discuss volunteering and they desire to
be involved but they struggle with time
commitments the financial aspects and
the stigmas around volunteering
volunteering by its definition is time
we only given for the common good
without financial gain but it’s so much
more than this simple definition it can
be wonderfully rewarding a thankless
task a financial burden or a
regardless it is a task by what we
receive is far greater than what we are
able to contribute consider the dad who
mows his son’s soccer team pitch every
weekend the young girl who visits her
local retirement village to talk to
those who don’t have anyone else the man
who goes out in the streets of our
cities and feeds those in need or maybe
it’s the local Scout group who visit
their park every weekend to make sure
it’s clean and tidy for others it’s not
about what we do it’s not about the
magnitude or the accolades we receive
rather it’s about doing something with
purpose volunteering Queensland
estimates that 34 percent of Australia’s
adult population so roughly 5.4 million
people
volunteer in some form the economic
value of volunteers is incredible
a conservative estimate of the
contributions of volunteers if they
occurred in the salary earning workplace
was over eleven point six billion
dollars in the last year line yes you
heard right eleven point six billion
dollars in the last year alarm
governments cannot possibly fund what
our volunteers are able to contribute
indeed if a government had a spare
eleven point six billion dollars it
would solve a multitude of problems but
in reality they don’t and the
contributions that volunteers make on an
annual basis to both the community and
the individual are incredible I’m sure
many of you are familiar with the face
money makes the world go round well
that’s certainly true when we consider
how much of an impact these eleven point
six billion dollars worth of
now let’s look at volunteering as a
purely economic process because that’s
what it ultimately comes down to right
give five dollars for this raffle $20 to
build a well in Africa sure dollars to
buy a sausage for the local Rotary group
give an hour of your time for this
fundraiser and you get the picture so
often volunteering is viewed as an
obligation something that can be easily
fulfilled by giving a tax-deductible
donation or a gift now for those of you
who good with numbers in the room let me
run this by you you hire five people to
work a four-hour shift on a conservative
hospitality rate say sixteen dollars per
hour and you get them to run a barbecue
fundraiser for you you receive eight
hundred dollars and you’re open today to
donate four hundred eighty dollars worth
of profit to your course now consider
the same scenario and these same five
individuals but this time they’re all
volunteers now these individuals are
still worth three hundred and twenty
dollars but this time you’re able to
donate and purchase $800 worth of
comfort quilts and 2-pack pillow sets
for those doing it tough on our streets
this translates to seventeen lots of $39
quilts and 13 lots of 2-pack pillow sets
at $10 each which is valued at seven
hundred and ninety three dollars of your
$800 profit but now your donation is
priceless
I discovered this economic process at
the young age of 11 when I partnered
with my local supermarket to run a
barbecue fundraiser for those doing it
tough on our streets we managed to raise
in that $800 region and we purchased all
the quilts and blankets for those who
needed a warm place to stay during the
winter months
now these sausage sizzle fundraisers are
truly a classic Australian pastime
especially when they occur at a large
green hardware store which for the
purpose of this presentation shall
remain nameless now when we look at this
unnamed building there’s generally a
six-month wait to access their resources
because that’s the economic value of a
sausage sizzle fundraiser what may seem
like a relatively easy simple Sunday
afternoon activity can have a huge
impact when we consider how far these
resources can stretch and the impact
that they make on the individuals
receiving them small acts of
volunteering are about creating little
seeds of change and they’re contributing
to projects that make a bigger
difference on the overall impact on our
community I imagine some of you may be
wondering why I feel the need to address
the importance of volunteering when just
one act can seemingly generate such a
large amount of change what I’m yet to
address is the difficult task of
garnering support to feel these amazing
initiatives now I’ve already been
volunteering for 12 years of my short
life and I can tell you firsthand that
our volunteering sector is frankly
composed of older generations typically
individuals in their late 50s to early
70s so when we sit up the lack of
younger able-bodied generations coming
up to take their place and the
significant economic value of volunteers
that will be left behind we have a huge
challenge especially when we consider
that these younger generations are
facing higher living costs and lower
amounts of disposable income
furthermore when we consider how much it
is to become a part of an official
not-for-profit organization like rotary
at $300 or quota International at 190
dollars it’s understandable that younger
generations would question why they
would volunteer their time their
resources and sacrifice opportunities
where they could be being renew marae
today costs and further developing their
skills so what would it take to get a
community of willing volunteers of all
ages abilities and backgrounds if I
asked you to lifts up the top of your
head one of the most significant events
of 2011 what would your response be I
imagine some of you might have a little
bit of a hard time thinking back that
far but for myself and a lot of other
Queenslanders one of the most
significant events occurred at the
beginning of the year specifically
January I’m of course referring to the
infamous floods this single event
resulted in one of the greatest
volunteer efforts in our state’s history
an army of 55,000 volunteers came out of
the woodwork to support their
communities their neighbors and even
those they didn’t know we rallied as a
street to sweep out the damaged streets
we’ve rallied as a state to sweep out
damaged streets we’ve fund raised and
spent four hundred and forty million
dollars on the recovery effort we
cleared 400,000 tons of waste and debris
from affected areas and we cleaned over
four hundred and fifty eight kilometres
of stormwater drains now this is an
initiative we can all be very proud of
but why does it take a mammoth events
for us to be willing to support our
communities those we may not know and
lend a helping hand there’s clearly an
innate desire within us to want to help
others so why do we wait for a national
campaign or a significant weather event
before we act
how many of you use Facebook snapchat
Instagram or any other social media on
Facebook alone as a collective we spend
over three hundred eighty eight million
hours scrolling through our Facebook
feeds every day now for those of you who
enjoy the offerings of Netflix or
YouTube we consume two billion videos
every day now it’s put us into
perspective
it only took seven million hours to
build the Empire State Building and when
we consider how we could have used our
time by the time we’re done scrolling
through our Facebook feeds and getting
our daily fill of YouTube videos we
could have built 55 Empire State
building’s every single day pretty
amazing isn’t it volunteering and giving
to others doesn’t have to be a
significant time or financial commitment
it’s about finding those little
opportunities and those little pockets
within your day it’s about finding that
genuine passion and drive within
yourself to realize there is a social
need for each of us to volunteer and to
step up to the plate to become active
engaged citizens if you’re now thinking
okay maybe I could give it a go but
you’re still concerned about becoming an
official member of a not-for-profit
organization committing to all their
monthly meetings attending the events
and of course the cost of becoming a
member
let me tell you there are two types of
volunteering formal and informal formal
volunteering occurs when you’re directly
associated with an organization by our
membership or named affiliation informal
volunteering which can have just a
significant of an impact generally
occurs at the grassroot level and it
allows you to engage with opportunities
that you believe in and where you can
decide the level of commitment you are
willing and able to give volunteering
doesn’t have to be associated with
big-name established organizations
sometimes it’s just about finding a
person within your community who you can
help
you could organize a community social
event to create fellowship volunteer in
a soup kitchen help out backstage at
your children’s school musical any
number of things it doesn’t matter what
you choose doing something small and
with the intention of making a
difference creates a huge change and
then inspires others to do the same so
what am I trying to convey there is a
social need and responsibility for each
of us to invest in our communities to
volunteer and to become piled the
overall larger change
there are numerous avenues to be
explored and ways to be involved
volunteering is about discovering your
niche your passion and following through
and able what would it take for you to
act what’s stopping you from realizing
the change that you can be in the world
and helping to realize the vision that
small acts of volunteering do create
large waves of change in the words of
the Dalai Lama
just as ripples spread out when a single
pebble is dropped into water the actions
of individuals can have far-reaching
effects too
[Applause]
you [Music]
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