| Nicole Molnar
Volunteers for...
| Extended Families Australia
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Nicole Molnar has completed her first year of studying Occupational Health and Therapy at Latrobe University. This year she has deferred from the course as she wants to save money and travel, and she intends to return to university next year.
Once she has completed the course, Nicole hopes to specialise in the paediatric area of occupational health and therapy, saying, ‘I love working with children and believe it would be a very rewarding career path.’
Nicole had always wanted to volunteer, particularly with children, but it wasn’t until she met the EFA North-West regional coordinator, Simone Bowen, at a barbeque, that her wish began to materialise into something more concrete. When Simone explained the way Extended Families matches volunteers with families of disabled children, Nicole thought it sounded perfect for her. Nicole wanted to give something back and help someone who was having difficulty coping. She knew too, that working with children with disabilities would be an asset to her intended career path, as she could see first hand the problems that the children and families encounter. Nicole figured that this hands-on experience would benefit her both during her course and later in her career when she would better know what treatments would benefit children and families the most. Nicole also felt that working with children, and in particular children with disabilities, would give her a better understanding so that when she finished her course she could find new ways to use occupational therapy to help her patients.
Nicole decided to become a volunteer in January 2008, and through Simone, expressed her interest to Extended Families Australia. In March 2008 Nicole was matched with the Routley family and their son, Nicholas, who has a hearing impairment and has now been diagnosed with autism. When speaking of her match, Nicole is enthusiastic, ‘ When I visit the family I usually play with Nicholas and his brother Matthew and spend time with their Mum, Lenke. Sometimes I might go along to appointments or shopping. Aside from all the good experience, I find the volunteering very rewarding. Sometimes I think I get much more out of it than they do!’
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 mary-helen mcilroy
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Mary Helen McIlroy’s volunteering journey is a long and winding road. Like many students attending Catholic schools, Mary Helen was exposed to social justice at an early age and has taken her passion for helping others as far away as India!
Currently studying Arts (Honours) at the University of Melbourne majoring in Jewish Studies, Mary Helen followed an increasing trend of young Australian and traveled overseas with a friend to Volunteer.
Mary Helen’s concern for children in the developing world took her to the Madras Institute To Habilitate Retarded Afflicted (MITHRA) in Chennai, Southern India. Her tasks included working with children of various ages in the school which is designed for students with disabilities.
Mary Helen strongly recommends volunteering to university students as a way to gain a perspective on a way of life we in Melbourne have little knowledge and experience of. While there were difficulties with languages and cultural barriers, it was an experience she values and hopes to repeat in the future.
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