Do you know when people say all it takes is one smile or one compliment to make a person’s day? Well, Hope is the equivalent of that, as he always goes out of his way to make everyone feel welcome. It’s very rare to not see a smile on Hope’s face, always the optimist and the first person to wish you a great day or offer you a chocolate as you walk in. With Hope’s passion for helping others and his ability to brighten the room with his contagious smile, I was able to sit down with him and ask him a few questions.
Passing the year mile in February with Volunteering Gold Coast Hope started his volunteering journey as a way to gain further skills, “I don’t have that much practical knowledge when it comes to work so I wanted to get some experience working.” He is passionate about expressing why volunteering can be so important to the younger generation. “I feel that volunteering provides pretty valuable skillsets later on in the future, if you’re young and have a bit more time on your hands it’s a really good way to build experience.”
Just as we’re discussing the skills he has learnt in his time here the main office phone rings and the ever so cheerful yet professional Hope answers the phone ready to help whoever is on the other side of the line. A quick intermission and Hope is back to explain why he enjoys volunteering with VGC, “It’s split between two things. I really like the office environment; it’s really friendly and welcoming which I really appreciate as it makes it easier to come into the office every day. My other favourite part is that I really enjoy working somewhere that is a good cause. It feels nice to help the community and be a part of that.”
You can tell Hope genuinely does enjoy volunteering at VGC by the way he talks so fondly of the people here but he also enjoys his free time too. Hope likes to stay active through fun activities like ice skating. “I like to keep active in fun ways so I go Ice-skating I think it’s great especially when it gets hot in Summer in GC, also rock climbing and bushwalking.” Quickly Hope adds in that he is very proud of his stuffed animal collection and that his impressive collection is home to 73 stuffed animals.
Hope’s family is from Bali so naturally, he places Bali as one of the places he loves to travel to but would love to head to Europe one day and visit countries like Poland and The Czech Republic. When asked what his favourite food is a sweet tooth is discovered in Hope as he lists chocolate eclairs as his favourite food and iced chocolate as his favourite beverage. Very fitting to go with his sweet and kind-hearted personality. As for advice he lives by Hope maturely answers, “not yet, I find myself asking for advice from others more than anything” which is a great message to pass on in that we can learn a lot from others. We look forward to seeing Hope grow his skills and continue his volunteering journey with VGC.