Volunteering

Steph Ave:  I volunteer because it fills my cup. It’s a bit, what’s that word? Cliche. That’s the word. So I volunteer because it does fill my cup. It’s a bit cliche, but with what I do for a living, being able to give back to the community. It might not have been St. John when I was a kid. I could have become a part of the CFA or SES anything, but just doing something for the community, getting back to the community because I think I’m very privileged to live in Australia.

Noel Hender: There is an opportunity or there’s a recognition that our long serving volunteers will often find that they’ll get through their local government or maybe state or national governments with awards. Now, I know people don’t go out looking for these awards. I mean, that’s clearly not the case, but I think it’s worth acknowledging that this can sometimes be an outcome, which for me was never expected. But I’m greatly humbled by the contributions that we’ve made at St. John over many years. As I said earlier, I’m 65 now, so over a lifetime of being recognized, you feel very pleased because I think the fact that people stay with it is because they are getting a lot of personal satisfaction out of contributing to an organization like St. John Ambulance.

Sally Haslar: But I think more broadly what St. John taught me the importance of contributing and serving the community. So I didn’t get the broader health passion that a lot of people have having been involved in St. John. But I got the social justice connection in my career from my time volunteering in St. John.

Alan Brown: You know, I can remember Darwin, the cyclone Tracy, I was only 12. And I can remember it happening and the devastation that we were all seeing on the TV and I wanted to help, I wasn’t permitted to help because of that age, and I’d only been in St. John about three or four months at that time. But the pride I felt of being part of an organization that was there, doing the work.

Jodie: For longevity and for your health you need to get out and about. You need to talk to people, and it builds your confidence, especially as a young person to talk to an adult. So some young people, though it’s not necessarily their fault, they don’t really interact with adults and they can find it confronting. But when you are, you know, responding to a call at the MCG for example, you’ve go to go out and you’ve just go to just speak to the people, assess, get the history, find out what happened, all these questions, you’re shooting in questions, you’re talking a hundred miles an hour. So there’s a confidence for when you know, in your own time, you come across and meet people.

Damian Kaushik: And from a leadership point of view we had great leaders that were really in the program that really encouraged us to be a part of it and stay on. And likewise, I then became a cadet leader myself at that division before leaving to pursue other opportunities.

John Ward: I’ve been lucky I’ve fallen into all sorts of things. From cadets, activities and fun sort of stuff to being involved with the board in New South Wales, being involved in tenders, uniform, vehicles, events, emergency management and risk management. So depending what you want, and that’s why I say I think St. John given us more than we’ve given it. Even though you might have given it thousands of hours.

Tim Duncan: Well, he said to me, I had lunch with him last week and he said this, it’s the most satisfying, thing he’s done, and he’s done lots of volunteering. He’s been a counselor in local Government, he owns restaurants. He’s done all sorts of things. But he said the most satisfying thing he ever did was his volunteering with St John.

Shevera Gunasekera: It’s an amazing organization, people there are supportive, it’s community, and particularly for young people ’cause I know St. John’s a lot more youth focused. It’s a really good opportunity for them to grow and find these qualities as a human being, as a person. St. John is the cornerstone of life, it’s not just first aid, it’s leadership, it’s working with others. There’s so much more to it than just first aid, especially for young people. I would not be the person I am today if it wasn’t for St. John Ambulance and I’m forever grateful to them.

David Heard: Volunteers built the arc, and professionals built the Titanic. So, you know, I know if people sort of sometimes frown, oh, you’re only a volunteer, but volunteers to me are actually the step above fully paid staff because they want to be there.