Volunteering for Hamiltonian Elliot Norton is a way to make sense of the world and feel better about life.
Elliot started volunteering during the Covid lockdown after being made redundant from his job at the time.
“I had a lot of free time and wanted to keep myself busy and give back. Thinking about other people was a good way of taking the pressure off myself and my situation.”
Elliot chose to volunteer with the Cancer Society and started with doing some volunteer driving, before staff “caught wind” that he was a creative and asked him to help photographing at events, which turned out to be a great fit for him.
“My Dad passed away a year earlier in 2019 from pancreatic cancer. He was a passionate landscape photographer and I inherited all his camera equipment. I took a few photography courses and it seemed like such a good fit to continue Dad’s passion by using his gear while giving to a great cause.”
Elliot has volunteered to capture the magic at Daffodil Days, Relay for Life events and other celebrations. He says being involved at Relays are his favourite volunteer gig.
“It’s an amazing day. Having gone through the traumatic process of journeying with my Dad and his cancer – you see all the grief, pain and hopelessness – then at Relay for Life you get to see the complete flip side of that. You see the beauty of humanity all coming together. There is so much love and positivity. Life feels good and begins to makes sense again.”
Elliot reckons anyone wanting to improve their quality of life and happiness should give volunteering a go.
“When you are giving to someone else, you just feel a lot better about yourself and about life.”
A selection of Elliot’s father Andrew Norton’s stunning landscape prints were donated by the family to grace the walls of the Cancer Society’s Canterbury Cancer Centre in Christchurch. They can also be enjoyed in the online gallery Elliot built as a tribute to his Dad's creative endeavours.
The Cancer Society wishes to take the opportunity this National Volunteer Week to thank all the amazing volunteers who, just like Elliot lend their creativity and compassion to support its work. If you’re keen to find out more about how you can get involved in volunteering with the Cancer Society head to cancer.org.nz/get-involved/volunteer/
