Do you want to make a Beautiful Difference?
We always welcome more kind hearts to help us support our families in need. Our Volunteers are the Heart of our House & Family Rooms and we’d love you to join our Volunteer family.
Our Volunteers provide a welcoming and comfortable environment to our Families, ensuring that they feel supported at all times whether that be in the day, evening or at weekends.
We have opportunities available for you to join us in making that beautiful difference to those Families in our House in Randwick or at one of our three Family Rooms situated in Sydney Children’s Hospital, Royal North Shore Hospital or Wollongong Hospital.
Not only are you helping families in crisis, you also gain personally from Volunteering,
It opens the door to life satisfaction, and makes you feel happier & healthier.
You get a ‘helpers high’ and experience a sense of belonging.
You can capture all those feel good emotions & it’s an opportunity to embrace your passions and share your knowledge & skills for the benefit of others.
Keen to join us, then take a look at our Programs below!
Volunteer at: Randwick House
The House is a happy, safe & welcoming environment for Families that have sick children undergoing treatment at Sydney Children’s Hospital. We have 28 rooms and 4 isolation units and due to such high demand Families staying with us at the House, must live 100 km away from the hospital to be eligible for a room.
Volunteer duties are varied and include meeting & greeting guests and families, general cleaning & tidying of the House, gardening, setting up and assisting with functions & fundraising events, assisting corporate groups with making dinner for the families, odd jobs around the house, wrapping Christmas presents, delivering newsletters etc.
We also have our Dream Team Volunteers who are on duty between 9pm-8am Friday or Saturday and are provided with their own bedroom. They are the main point of contact for families during this time.
The role includes holding the house mobile, booking in any emergency families, making sure that the communal areas are clean & tidy ready for the next morning and ensuring that the evacuation procedure is carried out in the event of a fire or an emergency.
Volunteer at: Sydney Children’s Hospital Family Room
This is located on Level 2 at the Sydney Children’s Hospital, it is a home away from home environment within a hospital setting and consists of a communal kitchen, dining area, lounge area, two bedrooms for day time naps, a bathroom with a shower and a small laundry.
It provides an area for Families to take a break away from the ward, enjoy a freshly baked scone & cup of tea or catch up on some much needed sleep or a shower, with the opportunity to get their laundry done at the same time.
Volunteer at: Royal North Shore Hospital Family Room
This Family Room is situated within the children’s ward in Royal North Shore Hospital and provides an opportunity for Families to step away from the Ward environment to have a shower, enjoy a snack or beverage and relax in a quiet peaceful setting, with the support of our Volunteers.
Volunteer at: Wollongong Hospital Family Room
Our newest Family Room is situated in the Children’s department of Wollongong Hospital next to the Children’s ward. Families can enjoy the snacks and drinks provided by the volunteers as well as having a shower or get their laundry done. They can enjoy relaxing in front of our big screen TV and catch up on Foxtel.
Our Family Room Volunteers meet & greet our Families and provide them with a clean, tidy, warm and welcoming environment for them to recharge in. Volunteers help by doing the Families laundry for them in our Laundry of Love, baking delicious goodies for them to enjoy, making the best cup of coffee or tea and making our Families feel cared for when they themselves are caring for their children.
Our volunteering shifts are available throughout the week & at the weekend. To keep consistency and a constant presence of support for our Families, we ask for a minimum monthly commitment. The shifts are generally 3-3.5 hours long with the exception of the overnight House Dream Team Volunteer’s role which is 11-12 hours long.
What are the steps to becoming a Volunteer?
If you want to come and join our RMHC Volunteer Family and make that beautiful difference in the lives of our Families we’d love to hear from you!
Please feel free to contact us at
volunteering.sydney@rmhc.org.au
Volunteers- the Heart of our House & Family Rooms.
We will invite you to attend one of our online Orientation sessions or to one of our in house sessions. You will be given more information on the Roles & Responsibilities for Volunteering and receive training in Safeguarding Children, Code of Conduct & Boundaries, Emergency Procedures, Food Safety & Manual Handling, as well as a virtual tour of our Programs.
We will need you to complete our on boarding document package, which consists of a Criminal Record check form, a request for your Working with Children’s Check reference number (which is free to apply for when volunteering), and copies of Code of Conduct, Manual Handling & Food Safety for you to sign. You will be able to complete your Safeguarding Children requirements online. You will also need to supply the names of two referees.
We will invite you to attend two shadow shifts at a mutually convenient time where you can try out the different Volunteering experiences that we have available alongside one of our established Volunteers.
Once your Criminal Check is processed and you’ve completed your two shadow shifts, then we will work with you to establish a regular convenient shift time. We then support you throughout your journey in Volunteering with our Ronald McDonald House Charities Family.
