WILL you brighten someone’s day this week, will you learn a new skill or will you make a new friend, meet interesting people or learn a little local history?

These are just a few of the benefits of volunteering according to guests who attended Bellingen Shire Council’s ‘thank you’ morning teas.

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Mayor Steve Allan recently hosted two morning tea events to acknowledge the work of volunteers in Council-run organisations and to celebrate the contribution they make to the community.

The first morning tea was held at the CWA Hall in Dorrigo on June 21, where Cr Stephen Glyde expressed the Council’s appreciation for the work that volunteers undertake.

He thanked them for their support in ensuring that the whole community, as well as visitors to the Shire, have the best possible access to halls, parks and reserves, which benefit everyone.

Council also held three street stalls throughout the week promoting volunteer opportunities and advertised a listing of volunteer organisations looking for assistance in local newspapers.

A week later, on June 28, the second morning tea was held at the Mylestom Hall, with Mayor Steve Allan, General Manager Liz Jeremy and Executive General Manager Mark Griffieon attending.

Once again Council extended an invitation to volunteers from the surrounding area and representatives from various organisations attended.

“Volunteers make such a valuable contribution to our community and at Council they assist in the services we provide like running our Tourist Information Centres, management of community buildings and sports grounds and assisting at libraries across the Shire,” said Mayor Allan.

Across Bellingen Shire there are currently 21 committees with more than 150 volunteers and Mayor Allan offered special thanks to all the volunteers on the committees that manage halls, museums, reserves and sporting fields on behalf of Council.

He described how volunteers work tirelessly managing bookings, ground maintenance, hall repairs, grant writing, in the libraries, cleaning, managing finances and gardening among many other tasks, and they make a huge contribution.

Chatting over a cup of tea, we learned from volunteers that they all consider they gain far more than they give, and there was quite a bit of discussion across the tables about who had the most interesting post.

Peggy and Richelle from the Bellingen Tourist Centre made a good case, as did the team from the Bellingen and Urunga museums, but when it came to length of service, no-one could match Norma, who started volunteering at the Mylestom branch of the Combined Pensioners Association more than 30 years ago – before some of the younger volunteers had even started kindergarten.

Volunteers come in all ages, shapes and sizes and with all sorts of abilities, talents and interests; some work half a day, others work three or four days.

Covid was particularly difficult for volunteers and many connections were lost in a number of fields while other volunteers found themselves working extra hard implementing new safety measures and tackling tasks online rather than face to face.

But things are getting back to normal and volunteers are needed now in many different organisations.

There’s never been a better time to put your hand up for a great experience as a volunteer – who knows what adventure awaits, maybe even an invitation to the Mayor’s next morning tea.

By Susan KONTIC