OPTUS ROCKCORPS ARMY DESCENDS ON YARRA BEND PARK TO KICK START THE COLLECTIVE

Volunteers descended on Yarra Bend Park today as the Optus RockCorps Collective kicked into action, continuing the move to celebrate volunteering activity across the country and reward volunteers who dedicate four hours to their community with music related prizes.

Over 50 Melbourne residents spruced up the northern section of the park by giving the picnic benches a fresh new coat of paint and planting new native plants.

The Optus RockCorps Collective continues the journey from the inaugural Optus RockCorps campaign which launched in February of this year and saw 5,000 volunteers attend over 65 projects across Sydney in a bid to secure a ticket to a gig featuring The Script, Tinie Tempah, Guy Sebastian & The Potbelleez.

In the next stage of this movement, volunteers can either give four hours to their community and submit their story to the Optus RockCorps Collective via www.optusrockcorps.com.au, or take part in an Optus RockCorps hosted volunteer event in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

The Hon. Ryan Smith MP, Minister for Youth Affairs and The Environment, attended the Melbourne event and thanked the volunteers, highlighting the importance of youth charity work and the positive role Melbourne’s young residents are playing in the community.

“It’s great to see partnerships like Optus RockCorps Victoria, bringing young people together to help protect and enhance Victoria’s wonderful parks,” Mr Smith said.

“The Victorian Government supports creative and engaging ways of encouraging young people to volunteer and get involved, with tangible results that benefit the entire community.”

Nathan Rosenburg, Head of Brand & Communications at Optus, said, “Volunteering is in our DNA and the Optus RockCorps launch was just the beginning as we look to get more Australians volunteering. Today it was Melbourne’s turn and the volunteers were amazing, proving again that the young people of this country can truly make a difference. Their dedication and enthusiasm in transforming Yarra Bend Park is invaluable to the community.”

The global RockCorps initiative has seen more than 130,000 volunteers attend over 40 live concert events across the world including the USA, UK and Europe. Stephen Greene, RockCorps CEO said, “We are thrilled to see the next stage of Optus RockCorps come to life with The Collective. Optus RockCorps uses the power of music to inspire youth to engage in their communities and we are just at the beginning of this journey in Australia. We look forward to seeing the difference just four hours can make to communities across Australia.”

For more information or to register for your own community project visit:www.optusrockcorps.com.au/collective/opportunities

RockCorps was dreamed up by a group of young American friends in Los Angeles, California, who saw it as a way of getting people to know each other, build neighbourhoods and have fun while doing it. By channeling the power of music and celebrity, RockCorps’ mission is to make volunteering as much a part of youth lifestyle as sports, music, fashion and gaming. Entertainers and politicians have sung the praises of RockCorps alike. It was recently given an award by the UK’s Prime Minister, David Cameron. To date volunteers have given over 500,000 hours to local communities across the world including the US, UK, France, Israel, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela. RockCorps’ first concert took place in New York in 2005. Since then RockCorps has produced spectacular celebration concerts around the world. Artists such as Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, Rihanna, David Guetta, Diddy, Akon, Kelly Rowland, and Kanye West, have all joined the RockCorps movement.

The Optus RockCorps Collective celebrates volunteering activity in Australia.
Participants give 4 hours of time to volunteer to an Optus RockCorps recognised charity partner or charity of their choice, and share their volunteering story online. Once validated to ensure their story meets the Eligibility Criteria, they will be given 1 TicketMaster concert voucher.

Budding volunteers who can’t make it on the day can still sign up to volunteer at a separate time and redeem their Ticketmaster voucher.

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Fuel Communications
Tel: 02 8217 6500