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Seeking volunteers for at-home companionship & respite, outings, conversation

EPC (Eastern Palliative Care)
Logo for EPC (Eastern Palliative Care)

Be a force for good in your local community! EPC volunteers tell us they love their roles and get real meaning and purpose from visiting, chatting with and just 'being present' with people living with terminal illness across Melbourne's east. They bring normality and a piece of the community in to the homes of people who might be a bit isolated, or just want to chat about something other than health for a while.

If you like being with people, listening to stories, are happy to take people out, or are happy to help someone do the everyday things that we all like to do and take for granted, then we want you in our Community team. It's the volunteer team that supports people who may not have access to the usual social supports, or family and friends that we all need to live well and feel connected.

Our Community volunteers have helped people by: Going to the movies - helping an artist in their painting - taking someone shopping - visiting the MCG - playing basketball - going fishing - visiting every op shop in Melbourne's east - spending a few hours with someone so their carer can take some time out - learning a new skill/hobby together - listening to stories - chatting, laughing, sometimes even crying together.

So if you have some free time on weekdays (no after hours or weekends) and lots of compassion, live in Melbourne's eastern to outer-eastern suburbs, and want a volunteer role with a difference, we would love to speak with you. We offer a lot of support, training, mentoring, networking and ongoing support and have great relationships with all of our 200+ volunteers - who are a vibrant, gorgeous group of people with big hearts and an ability to just be themselves with the people they visit.

Spending time with people facing end of life can be challenging...but it is also intensely rewarding.

EPC provides free, in-home support to people in Melbourne's east who are getting on with living after a diagnosis of terminal or life-limiting illness, which can significantly restrict their ability to access their regular social supports, their job, hobbies, etc. And that's where our volunteers come in.

EPC has far higher than average volunteer retention and satisfaction rates (according to a recent independently conducted survey of 71 similar organisations) and have won awards for our Biography and Community Team volunteer programs. Here's what our current volunteers have to say about our program:

“EPC is an incredibly professional and worthwhile organization which treats its volunteers just as well as it treats its own staff. Every volunteer is appreciated and valued.” “You get more out of it than you can ever put in” “There are so many benefits. I cannot imagine a more uplifting and supportive agency to volunteer with.”

For more information, call 1300 130 813 to have a chat with our Volunteer Services team. We look forward to hearing from you!

  • Please note that the region we support includes Boroondara, Whitehorse, Knox, Manningham, Monash, Maroondah and Yarra Ranges, and our volunteers visit people living in these areas - so preference is always given to volunteers living in this zone as we don't want people having to travel too far when volunteering with us.

Our volunteers visit during business hours and must be available for our comprehensive training program on Wednesdays in February/March 2020 from 9:30am-3pm.

We conduct and pay for police checks and ask our volunteers to complete an online Working With Children check. We also have an online application form which we ask applicants to fill in after an initial discussion with us. If you are interested, please call us or make sure you include a phone number so we can call you!

EPC Volunteers - making our community better through everyday acts of kindness.

You can not apply for this role as it is no longer available.