The VEFN celebrated the achievements and hard work of our Friend Groups at our VEFN AGM and Awards Ceremony on Saturday, 16th November. We know all Friend Groups do amazing work, but we wish to highlight the Award winners and highly commended recipients. There’s some inspirational work being diligently performed without fuss in special places [...]
VEFN_Advocacy Guide_2024 LGA Elections Elections are critical and powerful times to advocate for the environment, species and natural areas. Local Government Area (LGA) Elections will be held in October across Victoria to elect Councillors to city and shire councils. Through September and October, LGA candidates will be campaigning to win votes. They are therefore interested in [...]
Celebrating Excellence at the VEFN Awards Ceremony! On November 18th, we had the honor of recognising individuals and groups who have made exceptional contributions to our community. Join us in congratulating the winners of the VEFN Awards: Best Friend Award: Tony Castle, Friends of Mt Worth State Park Highly Commended: Robert (Bob) Thomas, Friends of [...]
Dear VEFN Community, It's with great excitement that we unveil the steadfast team leading the charge for a sustainable future—the 2023-2024 Victorian Environment Friends Network (VEFN) Committee. Elected during our AGM on Saturday, November 18th, these passionate individuals are set to build upon the green legacy established in 2022. Meet Your Continuing VEFN Committee: Convenor: [...]
We love hearing how the funding from our Best Friend Award is put to good use in the environment. Here is an excerpt from the City of Kingston's Community Newsletter about Nina Earl, the recipient of the previous BFA Award. "... Friends Group put grant funding to work - Local environmental volunteer, Nina Earl, recently [...]
When myself and Jodie from the Friends of Kororoit Creek attended the VEFN AGM in 2022, we rocked up not only because we were keen to attend but also because we had a project that seemed daunting and insurmountable and we were seeking guidance. We piped up at the end of the meeting and asked the room [...]
Thank you to everyone who came along to our AGM last Saturday. We are pleased to announce that Anthony Bigelow from First Friends of Dandenong Creek has stepped forward to be our new Convenor with Laura Mumaw as Deputy Convenor. There are still opportunities to join the committee if you wish to participate or know of [...]
In July 2022, Parks Victoria and the VEFN conducted two workshops (face-to-face and online) to address the concerns of Friend Groups with the Parks Victoria Volunteer Manual. The workshops were facilitated and enabled everyone to put forward their experiences in a constructive manner with time in the face-to-face workshop to put forward solutions and ideas [...]
A deep dive into environmental volunteering in Victoria with and for youth. https://youtu.be/DZnV_v84rMc What a jam-packed webinar! We covered: research into volunteer engagement including how to recruit, keep and motivate young people with VEFN Project Officer, Lucinda Cameron; inspiring stories from Sam Russell and team from the Urban Guerillas and their journey to help the [...]
FriendsNET#116 May 2022 has finally arrived! Download the latest edition here. In this edition you will find a number of articles of interest: From the Convenor's corner including VEFN's Strategic Plan. Support for environment languishes in Victorian Budget 2022-23. VEFN's alliance with Nature Stewards. VEFN's efforts to improve Parks Victoria's Volunteering Manual. Biodiversity Across the Borders conference. World's [...]