National Volunteer Week 2011 Inspiring the Volunteer in You

National Volunteer Week (NVW), 9 - 15 May 2011, is the largest celebration of volunteers and volunteerism in Australia, and provides an opportunity to highlight the role of volunteers in our communities and to say thank you to the more than 5 million Australians who volunteer.

The theme for NVW 2011 Inspiring the Volunteer in You, brings volunteering to the forefront and provides a focussed agenda for the volunteer sector. The theme is inspirational and aims to encourage more people to volunteer.

CFS volunteers are fundamental to emergency management in South Australia and their value and importance is highly regarded by the South Australian community. They give their time and skills to protect life and property from fire while also performing rescue operations, response to motor vehicle accidents, hazardous chemical spills and support to other emergency service organisations.

They are a unique group of people that are committed to putting other people first and doing all they can to build strong resilient communities. This National Volunteer Week we say thank you to our CFS volunteers for lending a hand.

CFS volunteers are an integral part of South Australia's emergency response capacity. Together, along with the support provided by the families and employers of volunteers, the State's dedicated army of nearly 17,000 emergency service volunteers are able to deliver an emergency response capacity valued at billions of dollars.   

Australian volunteers are essential to society, and many organisations and charities would struggle to survive without the support of their volunteers, including the South Australian emergency services. Australian volunteers contribute more than 700 million hours of community service to so many areas of society, including community health care, heritage and arts, environment conservation, emergency services, education, social justice and sports. National Volunteer Week provides a platform to pay tribute to these volunteers who donate their time and energy to help others.

The CFS says THANK YOU to all our volunteers.

• View the media release "Volunteering - time to pause and reflect";
• Find out more about volunteering for the CFS, or telephone 1300 634 587;
• Visit the Volunteering Australia website.