Student Volunteer Army

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Student Volunteer Army

Student Volunteer Army gives volunteers the means and the structure to help others and use their skills for good.
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Making service a part of the student lifestyle by inspiring and activating students to be the change in their community.

22/09/2026

Behind the SVA Service Award - the platform helping students track their volunteer hours across 200+ high schools in NZ - is a small team making it happen.

Thanks to Four Winds Foundation, SVA keeps encouraging students to step up in their communities across Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Northland, and Taranaki.

Ngā mihi nui to Four Winds Foundation for backing the people and systems that keep SVA's volunteer network running strong!

20/09/2026

Applications are NOW OPEN for Stantec Future Leaders Scholarship! This program supports students who are passionate about shaping the future of our communities through STEAM fields.

More than $200,000 in scholarships will be awarded to selected applicants – it could be you! Apply now until October 2. https://stantec.co/45V0aA4

17/09/2026

Clean Up Week 2026 is More Fun Than You'd Expect 🧹

Ask Aisy Lazuardi what one of his first SVA events was, and he'll tell you: a school clean-up. Simple enough: pick up rubbish, fill some bags, go home.

But it wasn't the clean-up itself that stuck with him. It was looking around and realising how many people actually wanted to be there.

"Everyone was smiling, laughing and chatting with mates, while also being involved and doing the mahi," Aisy remembers. He'd expected to be dragging people along, maybe even doing it half-heartedly by himself. Instead, peer students showed up, genuinely into it.

That's Clean Up Week in a nutshell - proof that looking after our spaces doesn't have to feel like a chore. It's a chance to get outside, get your hands dirty, and do it alongside people who actually want to be there too.

Aisy's advice to anyone on the fence about volunteering? Simple: "Give it a go." As he puts it, "it's actually funner than you think", and you might be just as surprised as he was by how many people show up wanting to be part of it.

This Clean Up Week, grab your mates, pick a spot, and see for yourself. 🌱

13/09/2026

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori is the perfect time to celebrate the ngā kupu (words) that capture what volunteering means to us. Some of these concepts are woven into everything SVA does, long before we had the English words for it. 💚

Manaakitanga: hospitality, kindness, and caring for others. Extending aroha to others, whether that's helping a loved one, encouraging one another, or supporting a complete stranger. This is at the heart of every working bee, every can drive, every hour given.

Kaitiakitanga: guardianship and protection. A way of managing and caring for the environment, based on the belief that people are closely connected to the land and nature. Every tree planted, every w**d pulled, every trap built.

Whanaungatanga: relationships, connection, and belonging. Building relationships and making connections, creating a sense of belonging and helping people work together for a common purpose. The friendships made on a working bee, the sense of team.

Kotahitanga: unity, togetherness. The concept of togetherness: hundreds of volunteers turning up for the same kaupapa, working as one.

This Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, we're grateful for the language that gives such depth and meaning to the mahi we do every day. Ngā mihi nui! 🙏

10/09/2026

1,500 Hours. One House That Changed Everything.

Meet Ryan, a 16-year-old SVA volunteer from Alexandra, Central Otago, volunteer firefighter, taekwondo coach, community patroller, and someone who's clocked nearly 1,500 hours of service.

One moment has stayed with him more than any other. During a two-day wildfire response, with 16 houses at risk, Ryan found himself looking through the window of one, a kid's bedroom, full of toys, the kind of room he remembers having himself at four years old. He pictured it as his own room, and what it would mean to lose it.

They saved that house.

"It made me realise what I'm doing had an impact," Ryan says. "That family have a bed to sleep in at night, instead of having to find somewhere else to go."

What surprised him most wasn't the impact on others; it was the impact on himself. Volunteering changed how he sees his own life, giving him a sense of purpose that's stuck with him ever since.

His message to anyone his age who hasn't started yet? Don't wait. As Ryan puts it, giving back doesn't just change the people you help; it changes you too.

Ngā mihi, Ryan - for your mahi, and for reminding us why SVA exists!

08/09/2026

🌱 Growing Communities, Together: Student Volunteer Army x IDEA Services 🌱

In March, SVA Service Award members from IDEA Services teamed up with the University of Canterbury SVA Club at Climate Action Campus Ōtautahi, the first initiative in the country dedicated to climate change action and education.

The task? Clearing w**ds to make way for native trees to thrive. Big job, big team, bigger impact. 🌳

Since launching as a pilot at IDEA Services centres in Christchurch in March 2022, the SVA Service Award has grown to all 27 sites nationwide, with more than 600 volunteers clocking up over 91,000 hours of service, including 6,500+ hours already this year.

"SVA enables people with intellectual disabilities to participate and be valued as an important part of their communities," says Philippa Johnson-Alatalo, IDEA Services National Programme Manager – Community Contribution.

The day was full of highlights, in the volunteers' own words:

💬 "I liked helping with the wheelbarrow and getting on the ground, ripping the w**ds out with gloves – giving everything a go." - Joshua

💬 "I liked meeting new people." - Amanda

💬 "It makes me feel like I have done something good with my life, it gives me purpose to use my powers for good." - Hayden

It was a day full of hard work, laughter, and connection. 💚

04/09/2026

This September 5th, we're celebrating a different kind of charity: The Winter Project 🧣

Every winter, a group of Year 12 students in Wellington quietly runs something most of the city never sees: collecting warm clothing and getting it into the hands of families who need it before the cold sets in. This year marks the Winter Project's eleventh year, now carried by its sixth generation of student leaders.

The need is real: around 170,000 NZ children live in material hardship, and recent flooding in Wellington has only added pressure. This year, the team is working across eleven schools alongside the Red Cross to help supply warm clothing to refugee families settling in the city.

Poppy Scragg, one of the students on the team, remembers a cold, windy delivery day early on, but it was the reaction on the other end that stuck with her. As they unloaded box after box, one small boy came up to her, delighted:

"My mum is going to be so happy she doesn't have to buy me any more pants! Maybe she'll be able to buy herself some instead!"

"This moment reminded me of my own privilege and how important it is to give back," Poppy said.

Her advice to anyone thinking about starting? "It doesn't take too much effort, and they'll be so grateful it's immediately worth it."

This International Day of Charity, we're grateful for student-led projects like this: quiet, consistent, carried forward one generation at a time. 💚

01/09/2026

Running the SVA Service Award smoothly, with well supported volunteering happening week after week in communities around the motu, relies on a team working behind the scenes to keep it all together. Thanks to a grant from Lion Foundation, some of that day-to-day coordination is funded, helping keep SVA's youth volunteering programme running.

For students like Jorawer from Hauraki Plains College, that coordination makes all the difference. "It surprised me when I was able to easily log my work and was able to log the small things, like running sound for assemblies on Mondays," he says. "It also helped me just keep a record of everything I do, so that nothing is left out."

This funding reaches 230+ schools nationwide, from Hurunui to Dunedin, Auckland's North Shore to the Wairarapa, helping make sure no school or student falls through the cracks.

Ngā mihi nui to Lion Foundation for investing in the people who make SVA possible.

27/08/2026

SVA Otago President awarded the Cora Wilding Memorial Award 🏆

The Cora Wilding Memorial Award is a YHA New Zealand award supporting young people aged 16–26 to pursue opportunities for personal growth, leadership, and positive impact in their communities. This year, one of those opportunities has been awarded to Eleanor Dunn, President of the SVA Otago Club, to support her continued volunteering mahi in Central Otago.

"I am honoured to receive this funding to continue mahi in Central Otago; it couldn't happen without external funders, and I am very grateful," says Eleanor.

Eleanor Dunn, President of the SVA Otago Club, started volunteering just as an extracurricular activity, nothing more. What she didn't expect was to fall in love with it. Volunteering was meaningful to her: physical, countable impact. Trees planted. Bags of rubbish collected. She knew she was making a difference.

One moment that's stuck with her: meeting other Exec teams at SVA camps. Behind-the-scenes mahi can feel small - there will always be more to do. But surrounded by others working toward similar goals in social cohesion and environmental impact, that feeling of passion grew bigger.

Her advice to anyone considering volunteering? "Give it a go! ...the fact that you're making an effort is enough."

Congratulations, Eleanor! 🧡

24/08/2026

Volunteering is now part of the school curriculum! 📚

Big news: volunteering just went from "extracurricular" to official. The Government's new Social Sciences curriculum now names volunteering directly, not as a nice extra, but as part of how young people learn to be active in their communities. 🙌

For Years 4–6, students will learn how volunteering strengthens communities, right alongside things like youth councils and public meetings. For Years 7–8, it's recognised as a genuine form of civic participation, just like attending hui or joining a school board.

It's not compulsory. But it does mean something important: volunteering is no longer just something a keen teacher might choose to encourage. It's now written into what every student learns.

This is something SVA has believed for a long time: learning to give back isn't separate from education; it's part of it.

So to every young volunteer already out there logging hours, showing up, and making a difference, this one's for you. The rest of the country is catching up to what you already know. ✨

Address

PO Box 90149 Victoria Street West
Auckland
1142

Website

http://www.sva.org.nz/

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