Local Volunteers Change the World for Residents in Need

The theme of this year’s National Volunteer Week, from 12 to 18 May, is “Volunteers Change Our World” and the City of Melville wants to show how its residents are changing the worlds of people in need.

Mayor Russell Aubrey said the City of Melville community was known for its very caring and generous spirit with many residents volunteering their services to improve the lives of others. “We have established the Melville Volunteer Resource Centre (MVRC) that, through funding from the Department for Communities, provides and coordinates volunteering opportunities in the area,” he said. “It supports more than 150 community organisations in the City of Melville that use volunteers and since 2003, has linked more than 1500 residents to volunteer roles. The 2006 Census revealed that Melville has a higher percentage of volunteers than the Perth average.”

MVRC Coordinator Nicola Schuman said the centre connected locals with volunteering opportunities; provided resources and support to potential volunteers; and offered information, support and resources to volunteer coordinators and groups involving volunteers. “We also strive to increase the profile of volunteering across the community and support volunteer recognition events,” she said. “National Volunteer Week is a great way to raise the profile of volunteering in the community and thank volunteers for their wonderful efforts.”

Ms Schuman said one of the valuable volunteering programs taking place was the Community Visitors’ Scheme – a national program that provided companionship to socially isolated people living in aged care homes.  “Residents of aged care homes may become isolated and lonely due to limited family and social contact, for cultural reasons or through disability,” she said. “By arranging community volunteers to visit selected residents on a regular, one-to-one basis, the scheme can make a positive difference to the resident's life as well as the volunteer’s.”

Below are some of the local volunteers involved in the Community Visitors’ Scheme:

Avril Mulcahy

Avril, who works full time as the volunteer coordinator at Melville Cares, has been volunteering with Community Visitors’ Scheme since 1999 and has supported four residents since then.

Avril said she believed she got more out of volunteering than the elderly residents she had visited. “You get to find out so much about the person – what it was like for them growing up; the history of where they lived and growing up in Australia,” she said. “The resident I currently visit is like an adoptive granny/mother to me. I enjoy taking someone out for the day – her satisfaction is my satisfaction. I lived with my grandparents and I love being around the elderly. I love the stories they share and the experiences we share when we are out and about. We always have a laugh.”

She said was easy to work full time and still have time to volunteer and enjoy it. “It will give you a special meaning in your life,” Avril said.

Deborah Broadbent

Fifty-year-old Deborah, who also works full time, volunteers on weekends for the Community Visitors’ Scheme. She visits a 58-year-old client at a nursing home in Applecross who has had stroke and requires a wheelchair.

Deborah grew up in a large extended family with lots of older people around. After moving to Perth, she found she missed that family contact so she joined the Community Visitors Scheme for one-to-two hours a week. She said she took her resident for a coffee each week. “Such a small thing such as having a cappuccino can make a big difference,” Deborah said.

“I love being able to make a difference to someone’s life and putting something back into the community. Being involved in the Community Visitors’ Scheme is a win/win situation. I get out in the fresh air and get to have a chat with someone. It’s such a small thing for me but for my client it is a lifeline.”

Miles and Yvonne Reid

Miles (79) and Yvonne (71) have been volunteering for the Community Visitors’ Scheme since it began 15 years ago.

The couple moved to Australia from Sri Lanka 27 years ago. Yvonne had some previous volunteering experience in Sri Lanka at a Christian Cancer Hospital. After moving from Darwin to Perth, Miles and Yvonne joined Melville Cares in 1994 after seeing an advertisement looking for volunteers.  They are both aged care visitors and Yvonne still has one of her original clients after 12 years. 

Miles recalls a client he had who was dying of cancer at age 39.  “This man’s parents had died when he was young and he was brought up by his auntie,” he said. “However, the man had since lost contact with his brother and auntie.  Yvonne and I brought the man’s plight to the attention of the then coordinator who followed up on it and was able to get in touch with the man’s family and bring them together just a month before the man died.

Miles and Yvonne both said that they got so much pleasure from giving something to people who really needed it.  They had no idea when they started volunteering the extent to which it was needed in the community coming from a culture where the elderly are looked after by their families.

To enquire about volunteering in the City of Melville, phone Nicola or Sarah at the MVRC on 9364 0153 or email volunteering@melville.wa.gov.au.  For more information about National Volunteer Week, visit www.volunteeringaustralia.org/nvw.