Volunteers Stories

Past, Present and Future is a project which has been coordinated by Kaye McLennan in which she has been gathering filmed interviews from amongst fourteen local volunteers.

These initial interviews reveal a diversity of volunteers from our community telling interesting and sometimes funny anecdotes of the situations they have found themselves in whilst volunteering.

The project has seen Kaye placed on a rapid learning curve as she has had to deal with new technology to bring the project to life. Kaye has received help and instructions from the team at the Bridgetown CRC and several young people within our Shire which culminated in producing one-to-two-minute length cameos with the fourteen volunteers in a PowerPoint presentation.

On Saturday 25th May a group of volunteers, their guests, and others involved attended a ‘Thank You Event’ at the Bridgetown CWA building.

Kaye explains how the evening unfolded, “The evening began with a short PowerPoint presentation showing a collection of cameos from volunteers in our community.

“The Volunteers came from a variety of community organisations, including Meals on Wheels, Hospital Auxiliary, Blues at Bridgetown, Ashbil Garden Art project, Blackwood Marathon, Rotary, the Fire Brigades, and the Bridgetown Show, showing some of the range of opportunities open for volunteers.

“Many of those in the interviews said that they didn’t think of themselves as being volunteers, it was ‘just something that I do’ and, often, it was fun.

“Others spoke about intergenerational volunteering saying that their parents volunteered, they volunteered, and so their children volunteer.

“Perhaps the essence of their community engagement was captured in the comment ‘Helping out brings you a sense of belonging, of being part of a group with people. It’s just good for you. It’s good for your soul and it’s good for the community.’

“The evening was catered by the women of the Bridgetown CWA, with everyone commenting on the quality of the supper.

“Following on, these cameos will be presented over the next fourteen weeks, with one or two different interviews shown each week on the Bridgetown CRC Facebook page and Instagram page.

“Together the interviews are an entertaining mix, including the amusing and the informative.

“I have enjoyed the process of compiling these interviews, and more interviews are planned in the future. The volunteers in our community are what make our community, and so there are more to come.

“In the meantime, I am still editing and refining the interviews I have made to date.

“As for the future, I have spoken to some students at the Bridgetown High School to get their ideas on volunteering, and it seems our community still has a pipeline of volunteers to come.”

This project was coordinated by the Bridgetown CRC and funded by Lotterywest and supported by Volunteering WA.