Neither wind nor rain was going to dampen the spirit of 200 eager walkers on October 6 of 2007. As the sun came out and a fresh spring breeze swept through the city, university students from throughout Melbourne “volunteered their feet” by walking 30km along the Capital City Trail and raised over $20,000 for five non-for-profit organisations as part of the inaugural Ampersand Walk. The Ampersand Network, established in 2005 by a group of university students, aims to improve the appeal of volunteer work and make it more accessible to young people.
“Volunteering was always just very much a part of everything we did; it was very normal.”
Sarah Cleghorn got her first taste of volunteer work when she was in year 9 at Ruyton Girls School in Hawthorn.
“Everybody did it; it wasn’t really considered volunteering because you just went along with your mates. We had a program where we went to St. George’s Hospital and spent time with the old people there, and I also did door-knocking for the Red Cross and stuff like that.”
Charmingly self-deprecating, the hazel-eyed 26 year-old sits in a trendy North Melbourne café and talks of how the daunting move from a small school to being one of 20,000 students at a massive university prompted her to search for something more.
“I was feeling a little bit lost and uncertain about my direction … I’d read graffiti about how toilet paper is worth more than an Arts degree, which worried me a little,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes, “so I went to the careers office and asked about volunteer work.”
However, Cleghorn received little inspiration from the opportunities made available to her.
“I was presented with an A4 folder with a few scrappy bits of paper and that was the extent of their volunteering facilities.”
It was with the realisation that volunteer work was seldom available for students that her initial ideas for the Ampersand Network were born.
Growing up in Melbourne’s affluent suburbs, schoolmate and fellow founder of Ampersand Katia Sanderson believes being given such privileges meant she wasn’t exposed to much beyond her own comfort level.
“I had this assumption that the world was a fair and equitable place where you made your own future, and for anyone that was struggling in the world, it probably had something to do with the fact that they weren’t very hard-working and they hadn’t created opportunities for themselves.”
This bubbly, passionate young woman wanted to break out of her own “homogeneous society,” so the then 18 year-old spent a year volunteering in Albania straight after finishing her VCE.
“It blew all of those misconceptions out of the water. [I learnt that] the world isn’t a fair place, that everybody doesn’t have an easy or an equal start in life, and therefore that someone who has had a more privileged start has somewhat of an obligation to contribute and try to give back a little bit- because I didn’t earn my lot anymore than the people that I knew in Albania had earned theirs.”
Cleghorn echoes Sanderson’s sentiments in saying that those misconceptions need to be successfully challenged.
“There are so many people who should be exposed to the darker side of life and understand that not everybody has the luxury of three meals a day or even a roof over their heads, so if they make an effort to learn about other facets of life then they can make better decisions about how to benefit the community going forward.”
These sanguine young women set up the Ampersand Network in an endeavour to dispel the common belief amongst young people that volunteering is only for “goody-goody-two-shoes”. As the two Melbourne University graduates devour gourmet crepes, Cleghorn admits candidly that she too was initially reluctant for that reason.
“I wasn’t 100% comfortable announcing to everyone that I was seeking volunteer opportunities … I just wanted to be part of mainstream crowd, to have pretty girls and cute boys like me.”
By overcoming her fear of ridicule, Cleghorn’s own experience showed her that volunteering is not just about singing to the elderly or going to a church fete.
“It encompasses everything you could ever think of and more. There’s always something to meet your needs and interests with the opportunities provided.”
Another point that Ampersand’s creators stress is that being a volunteer is not an all or nothing contribution.
“It’s understanding that young people can pursue career goals and financial goals and social goals, but they can still go out on a Thursday night and drink too much occasionally and all that sort of stuff.”
It is that philosophy that brought about the name for their organisation, as an ampersand is the typographic symbol for ‘and’.
“An ampersand is what brings two entities together, so [in that sense] you can have study and volunteering, socialising and volunteering. [It is about] being yourself, pursuing your goals, but making a contribution at the same time.”
And that contribution doesn’t have to be single-handedly saving the world, as Sanderson explains.
“People should just pick one issue they care about- you’re never going to be able to change the entire world, but everyone has an ethical responsibility.”
Whilst stating that there is not a single existing way in which people should contribute, what both women want people to realise is that it doesn’t have to be a radical demonstration.
“If you care about the environment you don’t have to chain yourself to a tree to make effective change. You’re probably much more effective in planting trees every two months or changing your behaviour as a consumer than you are lying down in front of a bulldozer.”
In starting their organisation, Sanderson says they were particular about not using the word ‘charity’ as they believe it can have negative connotations.
“It implies [that] we’re these good, moral, educated superwomen up here,” gesturing enthusiastically with her hands, “doing work for those poor people; we’re so great.”
Quick to dispute that notion, she articulates that volunteering is about working together as a community.
“We know that whatever social ills affect the community, don’t just affect the poor, but affect everyone else too in terms of crime rate, spending on public hospitals and a whole array of different things … So it’s true that everybody has a role to play.”
The original motivation for establishing the youth-run Ampersand Network was the need to engage young people in something that was bigger than themselves. Sanderson reflects how at the time she would often hear about older organisations such as St. Vincent de Paul struggling with this notion.
“[They would say] ‘we don’t know how to engage this generation, we don’t know how to get our program out there and supported by young people.’ So [we realised that] there is that need to get a workforce of people who can do that.”
So she, along with Cleghorn and five friends from university, set about changing the way something they were so passionate about was perceived.
“The challenge then was how to make volunteering seem like something that is relevant, and can excite a generation of young people who perhaps don’t have a lot of experience in [volunteering].”
After months of meeting at each other’s houses, searching the entire Yellow Pages and putting together scrapbooks full of information, the students’ brainchild finally started to get off the ground. Their online volunteer job-search - www.ampersand.org.au - was put together by Melbourne-based web development company ‘Smart Works’ in 2005. Sanderson was amazed at their generosity.
“For whatever reason, they completely believed in it and did [about $20,000 worth of work] for nothing.”
Today, the website attracts around 2000 job-seekers each month.
Cleghorn is supportive of young people achieving their goals, and says through her experience she learnt a lot about how to turn an idea into a reality.
“If you want to do something- do it; just ask people for help. There are so many people with knowledge and skills, and by and large most people are really good, nice people who are quite happy to help out.”
Unfortunately, not everyone has been so generous in supporting their organisation.
“We’ve been knocked back several times by certain organisations [for grants] … and also had a lot of trouble attracting endorsements from universities, which I think is just appalling; it really is foul.”
After being charged $200 to rent a small room for a one-hour information session at Monash University, Sanderson concurs it seems strange that a university would not be more supportive of such an initiative.
“[We are] bringing their students an opportunity that would supplement their learning to potentially develop a group of graduates who are that much more employable, thereby raising the profile of the university.”
The reality is that the Ampersand Network wants to celebrate volunteer organisations that advocate policies conducive to involving young volunteers. Organisations such as Student Partnerships Worldwide, Ardoch Youth Foundation and Edmund Rice Camps are all affiliated with Ampersand, and the money raised goes to support them and other similar groups. Unfortunately, Sanderson admits that it is difficult to attract interest and funding because of the organisation’s abstract nature.
“We’re not handing out blankets to the homeless-”
“- or cuddling African babies,” Cleghorn sarcastically interjects. Sanderson giggles; rolling her eyes beneath modern, thick-framed glasses, and continues.
“There’s nothing really photographic or tangible that someone can say ‘oh, that’s what they do.’”
From that realisation came the inspiration for The Ampersand Walk.
“We needed something that was visual and public that was a tangible demonstration of our organisation … Companies that had previously knocked us back agreed to give us money for the walk. So again, it’s only when we’re doing something that you can see and touch that they can see the value in what we’re doing.”
In spite of the setbacks and somewhat difficult task of changing the face of volunteering, these hopeful young women are grateful for every part of their experience.
“Being involved in something from the beginning- going from the point of just having an idea to all these responsibilities and getting so many people out for The Walk is just an incredible feeling. It’s very rewarding.”
Sanderson acknowledges that they came into the project young and open-minded, with the mindset that nobody could stop them. She sees this idealism as an advantage.
“I think that if people knew how much they’d have to go through to get to where they end up then many wouldn’t go ahead with their initial plans.”
Like any other budding organisation, Ampersand’s creators have continual visions for the future. Their quarterly “Lose Your V” nights held at bars around Melbourne are just another way in which they are re-branding volunteering, as Cleghorn explains.
“To lose your ‘volunteering virginity’ was purely a way of adding that sexy and appealing aspect to it. We also needed a more intimate forum to talk about volunteering opportunities and to do so in a way that attracted young people.”
So what would these fashionable, determined young women love to see happen to volunteering? Sanderson’s eyes light up as she considers the possibilities:
“Ideally if we could make volunteering as central and mainstream an activity for students as going to the pub, or skipping Friday morning classes; if it became the norm for young people to get involved in it then that would be just fantastic.”
