FINANCIAL experts taking business days off to work in soup kitchens or school canteens may be nothing new for the Community CPS Australia credit union, but it is now trying to get people who don't work for the organisation to do volunteer work as well.
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CPS employees are given two days of paid leave each year to do volunteer and community work, called Community Leave Days, which can be used for any type of volunteering work for any cause they feel the most connected to.
The financial group traditionally gave staff one day per year but bumped it up to two days in December 2011.
CPS staff were involved in more than 1000 hours of volunteering in the 2010-11 financial year.
The organisation has also launched a website to help people in Canberra find volunteering opportunities. It advertisers positions available, like being an emergency relief foodstore retail assistant at Tuggeranong or being a transport driver in Belconnen for people who need help with their mobility.
A spokeswoman for the organisation said the volunteering website was created after a survey of CPS members showed that 48 per cent of them were interested in being involved in volunteering.
Volunteer co-ordinator at Questacon Sara Foo said the site was useful in promoting opportunities.
''Volunteers play an intergral role at Questacon, interacting with visitors and encouraging a relationship between science and the community,'' she said.
''However, not a lot of people know there are volunteering positions at Questacon, so a program like this is a great way to reach out to new people.''
The web address is www.communitycps.com.au/smile