In the past 12 months, Ellie Brady, who is one of two Stratford District Youth Citizen Award recipients for 2024, has clocked up an incredible 350 hours volunteering there and that number is going up weekly.

As Auckland Anniversary weekend approaches, we’re reminded that this time last year, thousands of New Zealanders were going through the darkest time of their lives as the Auckland floods, followed closely by Cyclone Gabrielle, took their toll. We’d like to take this moment of reflection on the past year to say thank you for your support of SVA, whatever shape that took, in 2023. As a grassroots charity, SVA relies on the support of people like you to empower students to do good in their community. Thank you for everything you do for our next generation of volunteers.

The SVA Service Award is the SVA’s nationwide programme for advancing student volunteering, operating in 250 secondary schools throughout New Zealand. Since its inception in 2019, the programme has seen over 14 000 students involved. While it was clear to SVA that participation in the programme was benefitting young people, evidence had remained largely anecdotal. The overall aim of the research was to go beyond anecdotal evidence, and explore the actual impact of volunteering on a young person’s life, in particular in relation to confidence, resilience, wellbeing and work-readiness..

The physical earthquakes that shook the Canterbury region of New Zealand in 2010 and 2011 also sparked a ‘youthquake’. Students organised an estimated 24,000 volunteers to help clean up residents’ properties and neighbourhoods. Nearly a decade on, we want to find out about the long-term impacts of this action – for the students involved, for the people and organisations they engaged with, and for society and politics in New Zealand more generally.