Sanidi began volunteering in Year 9 after noticing a need in her school community and deciding to do something about it. She started by helping in the school’s Kai Kitchen, providing breakfast to students and their families. From there, her involvement grew. She began tutoring and helping out at the K Centre, an after-school programme for children that offers a range of activities including ballet, which Sanidi taught herself.
As time went on, Sanidi’s volunteering extended beyond school. She now gives her time to the Red Cross shop and The Serve Trust, and in December you’ll find her wrapping gifts as part of Volunteering Waikato’s Christmas Gift Wrapping fundraiser.
For Sanidi, volunteering has always come from a place of wanting to help others. She shared that if she was going to spend time on a hobby, she wanted it to be something meaningful, something that made a difference in people’s lives.
Originally, she got involved to meet new people and make friends, especially with those outside of her own age group. What motivates her to keep going is the joy she sees, not just in others, but in herself as well. She believes in using her time and energy wisely and figures, why not start now?
One of her favourite memories from volunteering is seeing the joy on people’s faces, especially at The Serve, where she helps prepare and hand out food to people in need. She says it is incredibly rewarding to see how something as simple as a warm meal can bring so much happiness. Cooking is something she loves doing, so she thought, why not use that for good?
Her advice to other high school students is to start volunteering early, before Year 13. She believes that when you begin young, you are more likely to volunteer just to help and to discover what you are passionate about. Later in school, volunteering might be about gaining credits or building experience for a job, and those are great reasons too. But when you start earlier, your reason is simply to make a difference, and that can be really powerful.
