Foodbank Victoria’s School Breakfast Clubs Team is here to support you. We can offer ideas to help you promote and attract volunteers, acknowledge your existing volunteers, and celebrate the impact of your Breakfast Club.

If your school is one of the 500 schools participating in the School Breakfast Clubs program, please feel free to download and use any of the below resources.

DOWNLOAD SCHOOL BREAKFAST CLUBS BROCHURE

Recruiting volunteers

If you’ve decided you need to recruit volunteers and require some assistance, below are some great resources to get you started.

• The Breakfast Club of Canada offers practical suggestions for recruiting volunteers from your local community in their Volunteers and the School Community resource
• Volunteering Victoria helps to break down the steps to recruit volunteers here
• Some schools incorporate a student leadership component into their club; having them prepare everything from food to marketing materials. Check out page 41 of The Breakfast Clubs of Canada Build Them Up Guide for some great suggestions on recruiting student helpers.
• Volunteering Victoria has a comprehensive toolkit available for you to review for some guidance and inspiration – Volunteer Management Toolkit

Welcoming volunteers

Once you have recruited volunteers, it’s important to ensure they feel valued in the work they are doing. The below section highlights some great resources for inducting your volunteers and keeping them engaged.

• Volunteering Victoria’s Principles for Involving Volunteers will get you started in welcoming new volunteers.
• The Breakfast Club of Canada has developed a succinct resource guide to help you put together a great Volunteer Orientation.
• The Breakfast Club of Canada also highlights the importance in Recognising Volunteers to retain those wonderful helpers.
• Volunteering Victoria summarises the key ingredients in Managing Volunteers for Retention.

Support centres for volunteers

It’s important to know there are a wealth of resources available to both volunteers and those managing volunteers. We’ve highlighted some resource centres that you might find useful.

• Volunteer Support Organisations are funded by the Department of Social Services to offer free support to non-for-profits in engaging volunteers, a list of offices in Victoria can be found here.
• Volunteer Resource Centres run by local councils are also available to offer assistance, a list of these centres can be found here. Most councils will have a community volunteer office with whom you can discuss your volunteer needs with.
• For your volunteers, Volunteering Victoria has both A Guide for Volunteers and an outline on the Rights and Responsibilities of Volunteers.