Grace volunteers for the “community of it all”
5 December is International Volunteer Day. It is a day to celebrate and spotlight amazing volunteers around the world. This year’s theme is ‘Every contribution matters’.
Grace is a volunteer committee member with CMY’s Western Young People’s Independent Network (WYPIN). Looking for a sense of fulfilment inspired her to volunteer with WYPIN and she’s been with the program for over two years now.
When Grace isn’t with WYPIN, she loves taking her dog on long walks and is a massive foodie. She also volunteers with Shooters Shoot, a youth-led not-for-profit basketball organisation founded by Shout Out speaker Sagalee, assisting with admin and event coordination. Grace was particularly happy about how she helped coordinate a Shooters Shoot event last year.
“All the late hours, I think we were on meetings for two weeks straight after work until like one in the morning,” Grace says.
“It was truly fulfilling to see all the hard work pay off and to have people from across the year come together for our main event.”
CMY came up on Grace’s radar when she was working full-time in another role. She felt as if she didn’t really have much else outside of work. After browsing social media and community pages, Grace found an opportunity with WYPIN and applied to join the committee. WYPIN was the answer that Grace needed, providing a fulfilling community for her.
“I feel like it’s brought a new sense of purpose and life into what can be a very mundane routine and lifestyle.”
“I felt more rooted within the community that I was in…that’s what you look for as a young adult, trying to establish yourself in the world and find a sense of purpose.”
Over the last two years, Grace has worked with other committee members to support multicultural young people in Melbourne’s west through youth-led projects, workshops and the annual Harmony Youth Summit. Throughout her time in the team, she has noticed that “a lack of representation” in career paths is a major barrier in the way for multicultural people living in the west.
“I know at their age, I didn’t know what I wanted to be but I also then sought comfort in career paths that I saw myself in or saw people that looked like me were in.”
“So, having that presented while they’re in school or through programs like the Harmony Youth Summit, I think is so integral to them, knowing that they can literally do anything that they set their mind to, as long as they see people like them in those career paths.”
The “sense of direction” that led and guided WYPIN was Youth Leadership Project Officer Frances Masi. Frances recently moved on from CMY but her ability to make the leaders in WYPIN be seen and heard will stick with Grace forever.
“It was more than just a job for her,” says Grace.
“I think her desire to really get to know each of us really was integral to us being able to harmonise and formulate projects and ideas really well.”
“I feel like that can only be established with like a great leader and a program lead, which was Frances.”
Grace is excited to continue her work with WYPIN into 2026. She’s optimistic for what the future of the program looks like. Grace wants more investment in programs like WYPIN so young people can continue to be empowered. She sees “so much potential” growing in the next generation already.
“This current generation are going to be change makers. The limits are endless in such a generation, so it’d be great to see what new ideas are cooking, what more impact the next generation can make.”