By Mikayla van Loon
The strength of the outer east’s volunteering was put on display in the annual Casey Volunteer and Community Awards, as leading organisations from the electorate were recognised for their commitment and outstanding achievements.
The list was somewhat extensive for the urban parts of the Casey electorate seeing Caladenia Dementia Care, Lilydale and District Historical Society, Mooroolbark Conference of St Vincent De Paul Society, Holy Fools, Montrose Township Group, Discovery Community Care, Veterans for Fishing, Heritage Committee of Mount Lilydale Mercy College, Salvation Army Mooroolbark Corps – Emergency Relief Service, Candlebark Community Nursery Mooroolbark and Jim Fuller Community House each being named a recipient on Saturday 15 June.
For these volunteer groups, being recognised by Federal Casey MP Aaron Violi meant a great deal.
“We are delighted to receive this award, which honours the countless hours of work that our volunteers dedicate to our Society,” Lilydale Historical Society president Maria McCarthy said.
“This recognition highlights our commitment to research and archiving, both of which are vital for preserving the history of our area.”
This was reiterated by Holy Fools founder Neal Taylor, who said receiving the recognition in front of peers and fellow volunteers highlighted the importance of this work in the Yarra Ranges.
“It means recognition beyond our organisation to our peers and other organisations throughout the Yarra Ranges. It recognises the organisation and the fact that we are volunteer run and operated,” he said.
Beyond the official recognition, Caladenia Dementia Care chief executive officer Sarah Yeates said to know the nomination came from within the organisation was special.
“This award is very special to us as we were nominated by one of our carers – it’s lovely to be recognised in such a special way,” she said.
Discovery Community Care’s Kathi Saric said the celebration of groups from around the area was a wonderful way to “raise awareness of the great community work across our region.”
Despite the positivity of the event, many organisations face challenges every day as volunteer-run groups, from maintaining the volunteer base to finances and increased need for outreach in the community.
“We have struggled with finances and receiving donations – what was plentiful before Covid has dramatically reduced since then…The lack of volunteers too has also brought about its own issues,” Mr Taylor said
Ms McCarthy said attracting volunteers and members was one of the greatest challenges the Society faced but without the dedicated people, history would fade.
“Life is busy for families, and spare time to give back to the community is often the last thing on many people’s lists. However, it is essential to consider how we can contribute to our community,” she said.
“Finding value in helping to maintain our local history is crucial; otherwise, valuable stories and people’s accomplishments will be forgotten.”
Somewhere like Discovery Community Care has seen rapid growth in the need for assistance as costs hit families harder.
“It highlights the great need for services like ours and others in our region. And of course with growth, comes greater expenses, so trying to keep a community organisation afloat financially is a great challenge,” Ms Saric said.
“Sadly, we saw many local community organisations closed down post-covid. We are trying to stay in the game for the sake of contributing to the overall wellbeing of our region, but funding to do so is always a challenge.”
But still the community organisation has made way for more offerings like art, gardening and lunches, something Ms Saric said all aims to reduce social isolation.
“We have been a safe landing place for people who are struggling with life’s challenges, some suicidal, others simply overwhelmed, to come and be with others as they try to navigate their way through their current circumstances,” she said.
The milestones this year for Holy Fools have reached new heights too, celebrating 10 years of Street Angels, 15 years of operation and the start of the Lilydale Homeless Resource Centre.
With a growing need for dementia support services, Ms Yeates said Caladenia is currently “providing services over and above our funding levels” because of the community desire to access such care.
“We are so proud to be a provider of respite and social activities for people living with dementia, but we also provide services to carers, and support our growing pool of volunteers,” she said.
Each organisation said similar when it came to the state of volunteerism, that the retirees make up the majority of the workforce but it would be nice to engage younger people if possible.
“We are finding recent retirees are coming in to join our volunteer team as they want to remain engaged and have a sense of purpose. The older demographic are so faithful in their volunteerism, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do without them,” Ms Saric said.
Flexibility was a key part of achieving that goal, according to Ms Yeates.
“Caladenia would not be where we are today without our skilled and dedicated volunteers. Volunteering is changing, and I think traditional volunteering has to change as well.
“Flexibility is paramount, being able to fit with volunteers who may have less time, or flexible time to give.”
“Volunteers are people who find true value in their community, and volunteers are always welcome and appreciated and acknowledged,” Ms McCarthy said.
