Our people, our supporters

Khaled

Volunteer

Australian Red Cross/Rodney Dekker.

Twenty-eight-year-old Khaled Akbari* arrived in Australia as an asylum seeker in 2011, having fled his homeland of Iran. During the 18 months waiting for the outcome of his asylum seeker visa application, Khaled started volunteering in the Red Cross Emergency Relief bike program where he repairs bikes for asylum seekers to use free-of-charge. While he now has a job and has received his protection visa, he still volunteers every Friday. “I think about other people like me and I want to help,” he says.

Khaled is one of approximately 34,000 volunteers around Australia. In 2012, the Voluntary Service Project commenced to strengthen volunteer engagement and a Voluntary Service Strategic Framework was developed after nearly 10 months of consultation and engagement with volunteers, members and staff.

We also implemented a new Recruitment Management System, which is an organisation-wide initiative to improve recruitment and selection of volunteers and staff. In April 2013, we launched the new recruitment technology which automates our processes and makes it easier to apply for volunteer or career opportunities at Red Cross.

*Surname has been changed to protect the privacy of the individual.