Volunteer
Together we can end homelessness
Your support helps transform the lives of people experiencing homelessness. Through your kindness, people can leave the streets behind and rebuild their lives.
Hutt St Centre appreciates every single volunteer who walks through our doors, contributing to our Wellbeing Centre, pastoral care services, the Pathways program, Creative Hub, advocacy, lifestyle and health services, in the kitchen, our warehouse and at events.
Our dedicated volunteers are critical to our success – we wouldn’t be able to support our community without their enthusiasm, compassion and commitment.
Last year more than 250 volunteers supported clients across our services.
“Volunteering at Hutt St Centre is about treating people with dignity and respect – sharing a smile with everyone, and making sure they feel welcome.
“People experiencing homelessness often feel invisible, but they’re not invisible here. We see them, and we’re here to help them.”
– Annette, Kitchen Volunteer
What you’ll gain from being a volunteer
In return for your support, we can offer you a rewarding experience by providing opportunities to:
- make a significant contribution to combating homelessness
- develop skills and experience of the homelessness sector within a dynamic, positive, friendly and supportive environment
- access an extensive volunteer training program
- socialise with like-minded people and other volunteers.
We have a range of regular volunteer opportunities that run at various times between 6.45am and 1:00pm Monday to Saturday (including Public Holidays).
Volunteer requirements
To volunteer at Hutt St Centre, you must:
- be aged 18 or over
- have a satisfactory National Police Check (less than 12 months old)
- have satisfactory DHS Working with Children Check (less than 5 years old)
- complete Hutt St Centre volunteer online induction
- sign the Hutt St Centre code of conduct.
How to apply
To express your interest in volunteering at Hutt St Centre, please complete the form below. A member of our People and Culture team will be in touch within 5 business days to discuss current opportunities.
(Form from P&C coming)
Read some amazing stories from current volunteers
Every person is visible at Hutt St Centre
Our volunteers come from different walks of life, but together share the same heart for making a difference.
Introducing Annette. She’s been volunteering each Friday morning in our Dining Room for a year and a half.
The Dining Room is run by Kitchen Manager, Pete, with the support of regular volunteers who prepare and serve meals for people doing it tough.
It can be intimidating to walk into a busy place like Hutt St Centre, so a warm welcome makes all the difference. That’s where Annette comes in:
“Often when people visit for the first time, they walk up to the counter and think they have to serve themselves. I love that we invite them to take a seat, and serve them personally.”
“It’s about dignity, and treating people with respect – sharing a smile with everyone, and making sure they feel visible.”
“I think people experiencing homelessness often feel invisible. But they’re not invisible at Hutt St Centre – we see them, and we’re here to serve them.”
Annette’s choice to volunteer followed her move into semi-retirement from teaching:
“When I started, I wanted to be busy and do something to help other people – but now I get so much more back than I give.”
Annette’s commitment to helping end homelessness is something she’s eager to share with her own community.
“I run a junior Lions club at a school. I really enjoyed doing Walk a Mile in My Boots this year with all the students, and part of that was educating them about all the work done at Hutt St Centre.”
“The children made these beautiful, colourful cards filled with words of encouragement for people seeking support at Hutt St Centre. It was really helpful for them to learn about homelessness, and shape their attitudes.”
Annette has an important message for anyone who might be facing tough times and is thinking of seeking support at Hutt St Centre:
“You might have had experiences where you’ve lost trust in other people. Having the courage to walk through the doors of Hutt St Centre is the first step to getting help. Just know there are people who care about you and want to support you.”
Thank you, Annette, for your kind words and for inspiring action in your own community to help end homelessness. And thank you to everyone in our community, for your relentless support and belief that everyone deserves a place where they belong.
Smiling to make a difference
“I love volunteering, I love it better than work.”
Meet Caroline. She’s a retired Registered Nurse, owner of a miniature Schnauzer named Ziggy, and a word puzzle enthusiast – and she has been volunteering with Hutt St Centre since 2014, showing kindness to people who walk through our doors seeking support.
Caroline knows life is tough, and her personal experience of cancer combined with a strong social conscience to help people fuels her motivation for volunteering:
“Life is not a smooth road for many people, nearly everybody does it tough.”
“One day after a visit with my oncologist, I parked right out the front of Hutt St Centre and I’d been thinking about doing something for a long time. I started the car up, then I thought “No, the time is now.”
So, I turned the car off, went inside to Hutt St Centre and said that I really wanted to volunteer. They happened to have some opportunities open and so that was how it happened, and I’ve certainly never regretted it.”
A can-do attitude means Caroline has put her hand up for many roles over the years, including volunteering in the office, and helping clients gain their driving learners permit – but the Dining Room is her favourite:
“I’ve done lots of things at Hutt St Centre, but the Dining Room is the most rewarding to me – I love it! Everyone who comes in for a meal is always really grateful and polite.”
“I’ve also been volunteering with the women’s program, Ignite, and that’s a really special group. There’s a lovely setup in the Centre, with nice placemats, flowers, mandala colouring-in sheets, word puzzles – and then we have a guest speaker. I help prepare the afternoon tea, and assist the ladies to choose new clothing and toiletries for free.”
People experiencing homelessness have often sadly seen the worst of humanity. That’s why a warm welcome is so important for helping people feel safe when they seek support. But, as Caroline knows, the impact of volunteering goes both ways:
“Volunteering means a lot to me – to think that in some small way we can make a difference to people’s lives. Whether just a smile, or a basic chat.”
“Sometimes life can be pretty trying, but volunteering warms my heart.”
Thank you, Caroline, for your important role in supporting people experiencing homelessness with kindness and compassion.
Thank you to all our volunteers, and our wonderful community of supporters, for your commitment to standing alongside people in their toughest moments as we work to end homelessness.
The importance of belonging
Homelessness can happen to anyone. But as this community shows us every day, you don’t need a personal experience of homelessness to want to help end it.
Hutt St Centre brings together people who are seeking a fresh start with people who want to help make a difference.
Meet Natalie. She has been volunteering with Hutt St Centre since 2015 in our Dining Room, helping prepare and serve breakfast to everyone who walks through our doors.
Natalie first started with Hutt St Centre through ‘Angel for a Day’ before joining as a regular volunteer:
“While I don’t have a personal connection to homelessness, the values of Hutt St Centre really align well to my own values. It’s all about doing good for others.”
For people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, hunger is a daily problem. Rough sleeping or financial stress can mean people don’t know when they will have their next nutritious meal. This is incredibly hard day after day, and can lead to serious health and wellbeing issues.
That’s where our Dining Room volunteers, like Natalie, play an important role supporting the preparation and service of up to 40,000 freshly cooked meals a year:
“What I do at Hutt St Centre is helping to prepare and serve meals, but it’s really just about having a chat with people – because sometimes we might be the only people they chat to that day, and you can see people appreciate that friendliness.”
“I think the most important thing for a volunteer in the Dining Room is to give people a sense of belonging, and not treat anyone differently because of their circumstances. At the end of the day, we’re all humans and we’re no different to each other.”
Amidst a busy working and family life, Natalie makes the time for volunteering to be a regular part of her calendar:
“What I’ve enjoyed is meeting the other kitchen volunteers, who I normally wouldn’t meet or get to know outside of volunteering. I really enjoy getting to meet people who are different from me, but we all come together for the same purpose and work together.”
Thank you to Natalie and all our dedicated volunteers for regularly supporting people in their toughest moments with a warm welcome. Thank you for helping people to feel comfortable to be themselves, and for your important role at Hutt St Centre.
And thank you to our wonderful community of supporters. Your ongoing generosity ensures that people doing it tough can have a nutritious breakfast and lunch when they need it.
