Our organisation: Stretch-A-Family Inc is an NGO working with homeless children and young people aged 11 to 18 in the Sydney area. Services provided include residential care in small group homes, and foster care with approved foster carers in the community. Stretch-A-Family also provides young people aged 18-25 who exit from the program with an aftercare service to ensure that they continue in their smooth transition to adulthood and are supported when necessary

My responsibilities: As the Chief Executive Officer of the agency my duties are to ensure that all the programs delivered by Stretch-A-Family are conducted in accordance with the organisational Strategic Plan and that young people and their families receive a quality service that meets their needs in a positive and respectful manner.

Our team: Our paid staff team is made up of Managers, Caseworkers, Youth Workers and administrative staff. We are managed by a Committee of Management made up of volunteers.

Our greatest challenges: To eliminate homelessness for children and young people who are referred to our service. To find enough foster families to care for all the teenagers who need to be cared for outside of their own family. To make the best use of scarce resources to deliver a quality service.

How have you utilized goodcompany?

One of our volunteer projects was to create a DVD which could be used to provide information to people or families interested in becoming foster carers. However we could not afford to produce this. I put the volunteer project up on Good Company and was immediately contacted by a professional film producer who did all the work for us pro bono. We were also able to raise most of the other associated production costs. An abridged version of the DVD Fostering a Teenager with Stretch-A-Family is now on our website (www.stretchafamily.com.au) and we have a good supply of the DVDs available to send out to prospective foster carers.

Another volunteer project that was also immediately satisfied was for a professional to work on our Management Committee. There was an immediate enquiry and the volunteer is now the Secretary of the Management Committee and is intending to re-nominate this year. This has improved the overall quality of the Committee of Management as her input is extremely valuable and insightful.

Tips for Community Groups working with skilled volunteers:

Be clear about the outcomes you are seeking from the project and be prepared to provide all the support and any other resources that are needed to enable the volunteer to do their job.

Tips for Volunteers working with community groups in skilled volunteering:

Again be clear about what it is exactly that you can provide and identify any other resources that the community group will need to provide to make the project a success. Find out about time-frames and do not commit to something that you are not going to be able to deliver.