This week is Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu National Volunteer Week

This week is Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu National Volunteer Week and is an opportunity for us to come together and say “three cheers for our volunteers”, their whānau, employers, supporters and all those who work alongside them.

Fire and Emergency volunteers make up approximately 11,500 of our people and are based at more than 600 stations nationwide. They are an integral part of our overall team, which also includes career firefighters, trainers, our communication centres, administration and support staff.

We ask our volunteers to take time out from their families, their jobs and their lives to help keep our communities safe. We know they miss out on many special occasions so they can fight fires and respond to medical emergencies, motor vehicle accidents, weather events, natural disasters and deliver community risk reduction programmes. So, we want to say three cheers to volunteers!

This year’s campaign theme focuses on the role of teamwork, celebrating the collective contribution of our volunteers, and will feature volunteer brigades from different regions. We are sharing stories from some of our volunteer brigades, about what it means to be part of a team of volunteers, how they manage volunteering alongside the other things that are important to them, and the support they receive along the way. You can read their stories on our website(external link).

We’re also running a targeted media campaign across social media, radio, and digital ads focusing on ‘Three cheers for Fire and Emergency volunteers’ and what a valuable team they are in our communities.

We want all our volunteers to feel valued. That’s why this National Volunteer Week, we’re encouraging everyone to thank our volunteer brigades on social media. Please share our posts across your own social media and read and share the profiles of some of our volunteer brigades.

Help us celebrate our volunteers

Below are some of the things you can do to get involved this National Volunteer Week and help us say three cheers for our volunteers:

• Look out for our posts on Fire and Emergency’s Facebook and Instagram and share these across your own social media
• Congratulate/comment on the social media posts and encourage others too, using the hashtag #3cheersforourvolunteers and #NVW2022
• Read and share the mini profiles of some of our volunteer brigades

Keep an eye out for our campaign and get involved where you can. If you get any pictures from the week, please send these through to communications@fireandemergency.nz.