“Just do it online.” Easier said than done! With core services increasingly moving to remote delivery, many community members are digitally excluded from participation in daily life.
For years, we have seen an increasing need for “life support”. People needing help to manage their online access to housing, health, education, employment, immigration and more.
The KNH Form Help Program is our response to this need. Form Help began as a small service where volunteers would assist people to fill out paperwork such as passport applications and Centrelink forms. It was designed for people with limited English.
When the program began in 2014, we had 1 volunteer and provided 26 appointments annually. In 2023 we provided almost 300 appointments! Each booking is one hour. Participants are no longer only from migrant communities. Increasingly we see Australian-born community members who do not have the digital literacy to perform essential tasks.
Every week, our amazing Form Help Volunteers turn up for their regular shifts. For two hours each, they sit with people and support them to complete whatever it is that needs doing. A form is never just a form - there is always a story behind it. Our Form Help team are willing to listen to that story. They are incredibly patient and they are experts at problem solving. They will often making multiple appointments with the same person to ensure that a task gets completed properly.
Over the year, these volunteers helped enrol children in schools, submitted dozens of citizenship applications, completed passport applications for entire families, helped people claim Power Saver Bonuses, apply for jobs, police checks and working with children checks. They also spent HOURS on the phone to Centrelink, the Immigration Department and Births Deaths & Marriages - advocating on behalf of community members.
In a perfect world, we would not need a program like Form Help, but in our imperfect world, we are very grateful for this beautiful bunch of humans. Each one of them makes a difference - one person at a time. Congratulations on being our Volunteers Of The Year!
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