Eighty-three locals who participated in the Thames Community Centre’s driver programme went on to contribute hundreds of volunteer hours to organisations in 2024.
Now, to continue this cycle of giving back, more mentors are needed to support future drivers and help sustain the community impact.
The Thames Community Centre, on MacKay St, runs a Driver and Volunteer Programme which sees them paying for driver’s license test fees, lessons, courses and mentored driving practice for people who are willing to give volunteer hours back to the community.
Since 2018 the initiative has found volunteer work for 390 people within 28 different community organisations, centre manager Jeff Whitfield said.
Eighty-three volunteers were placed last year alone.
Jeff told The Profile he had a hunch the initiative would be a success, as the centre understood there was a population out there “languishing on their learners”.
But word of its success had spread, and there were now more applications for mentored practice than the centre could offer.
“Our mentors, their time is like gold to us,” Jeff said. “We really value what they do… because it’s life changing for the drivers. Some people have got jobs, they’ve got independence. Our issue is we only have one car, and there’s only so many hours in the day, but most importantly, we could do with some more mentors, so I hope that we can mine some more gold.”
The Driver and Volunteer programme helps with all phases of driving qualification, from a learners licence through to a full.
The student and the volunteer driving mentor practice with twice weekly drives in the centre’s Valley Toyota car over a 12 week programme. The student also has three lessons with a professional driving instructor.
The centre currently has eight volunteer mentors but Jeff said he would like to double that number as applicants were now on a waiting list.
“Realising 12 weeks is quite a chunk of time we do have mentors that can come off the
bench to cover practices for other mentors as required,” he said.
One of the mentors, Colleen Hughes, said contributing to the programme was “very rewarding”.
“I was looking for something else to make life meaningful; to give back to the community and meet some new people. It’s very rewarding and only a couple of hours a week,” she said.
“It’s a way of contributing to the community, as having a driver’s licence removes barriers to work and gives independence.”
DETAILS: For more info or to lend a hand, visit www.thamescommunitycentre.org or contact Jeff: 027 868 9797.
BY KELLEY TANTAU
