National Volunteer Week is an annual event celebrated across Australia to recognise and appreciate the contributions of volunteers.

The week-long event being held from 15 – 21 May, recognises the vital support that the millions of volunteers in our country provide to their communities and encourages people to consider volunteering.

The Lismore App caught up with four local organisations that rely on volunteers to function.

In speaking to them, we would like to recognise and thank all the volunteers across the many amazing sporting, cultural and community-run organisations.

State Emergency Services (SES)

Today is Wear Orange Wednesday or 'WOW Day', a day held during National Volunteer Week each year to thank all SES volunteers, who generously give their time to help communities during flood and storm emergencies.

NSW SES Public Information Officer Scott McLennan said it was a chance to celebrate the achievements and the thankless tasks that most of our volunteers do every day.

“In the Northern Rivers we have just on 1,000 volunteers, which are supported by approximately 20 staff,” he said.

“These volunteers range from indoor volunteers that do a lot of logistics, public information, information and warnings, right through to outdoor volunteers, which are the ones that turn up in the rain, hail or shine, rescue people on boats or fix people's roofs.

“We have volunteers from the age of 16, right up to our most mature member is currently 88.”

“It has been a very engaging 12 to 18 months, we've had volunteers from the Northern Rivers region, deploying right across New South Wales, and even over into Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia to assist with multiple disasters throughout the last 18 months.”

“The ethos of Australia is actually to stand up and help each other, and we work together collaboratively with each other.”

“We are often in small communities and volunteering is the bread and butter and the fabric that what he's what makes Australians Australian.”

If you would like to join as a volunteer, click this link: https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/

Resilient Lismore

Resilient Lismore is a registered charity, and a community run organisation that played a massive role since the 2022 floods. Volunteers helped during the clean-up, and are now assisting in the rebuild.

Resilient Lismore Executive Director Elly Bird said they wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without volunteers.

“We would not have gotten anywhere near where we are today, without the incredible support of so many of our volunteers,” she said.

“We still have long term volunteers who are out there in the community every day helping people fix their homes and attend to urgent safety situations where people are living.

“We also have some incredible volunteers that are in our hub every day of the week, helping us to give as much support as we can to our community.

“The concept of volunteering is just so valuable in order to provide care and comfort for our community as we continue to navigate our recovery.”

If you would like to join as a volunteer, click this link: https://forms.monday.com/forms/695842b12873af140bf780823640827e?r=use1

PCYC Lismore

Lismore PCYC had a celebration this week to officially reopen after the floods. They are a wonderful organisation that provide a variety of active and creative based activities for youth.

PCYC Club Manager Greg Ironfield said they simply could not function without volunteers.

“We could not do it without volunteers, it is as simple as that,” he said.

“We've got volunteers that sell raffle tickets for us, and volunteers that coach the kids, volunteers who are our life members, so they support the club in fundraising and things.

“Our organisation can only survive as it does with its volunteers.”

If you would like to join as a volunteer, click this link: https://www.pcycnsw.org.au/become-a-volunteer

Friends of Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens

Lismore Rainforest Botanic Gardens officially opened in 2013 thanks to the work of many volunteers. 10 years on they still need volunteers to plant trees, keep them watered and weeded, and the countless other jobs that go into maintaining the site.

President of Friends of Lismore Rainforest Botanical Gardens Tracey Whitby said it was a wonderful thing to be part of.

“On the books we've probably got about 40 volunteers… including the guides, who don't come on workdays, they work on the weekends,” she said.

“So, at any one day, you'd probably find about 20 others here, and we're all grandparents that have to visit grand children and stuff, so we're not always all here.”

“We've put in paths, we've created probably five of the gardens, we’ve used whatever was already here to make more gardens, we've installed a lot of native bees, and we've got the nursery happening in a bigger way it used to be.”

“We've got lots of special little spots where you can sit and contemplate and think about life and it always makes you feel better.”

“Which is why all of the volunteers do it, I'm sure it's because they love the social contact, but also doing something and seeing what you've done.”

If you would like to join as a volunteer, click this link: https://friendslrbg.com.au/about-us/volunteers