Lucy Trommestad believes volunteering with Orange City Council is a way of giving back to her community.

Recently helping-out on a Council-sponsored XPT trip to Wellington for a group of Orange residents, she gets out of volunteering as much as she puts in.

“It gives me lots of pleasure, it’s fun and you get to meet lots of lovely people,” she explained.

For Coleen Gander, who weekly takes advantage of Council’s day-trips away for the elderly, the advantages are obvious. “I live on my own and this gets me out to meet people and have a good time,” she said. “We don’t care where we go, as long as we get out of the place,” she said. “We have a lovely time, a few jokes and a few laughs,” she explained.

Volunteering comes in all shapes and sizes; and Orange City Council has a job for anyone interested in helping others.

“We’re making a renewed push for residents to get in touch with Council; we’re always on the lookout for new volunteers, there’s always more opportunities than volunteers,” Council Communications Officer Allan Reeder explained.

“we have 30 community committees looking for the expertise and interest of the community,” he said. “There are a range of activities we offer with hundreds of volunteers working in the area.”

“We have lots of volunteering opportunities available with many of our agencies. These range from community service teams to Meals on Wheels, to Gallery volunteers and Friends of the Botanical Gardens,” Allan said. “These are keen gardeners that help with running of the Gardens.”

One of Council’s major volunteer initiatives is the “Choices at Home” service that aims to help older residents stay in their own houses longer.

“This can involve something as simple as a phone call a day to an older resident,” he said. “This allows older residents to know, ‘If I fall over, someone is going to know,’ or as simple as taking someone elderly shopping.

“There’s also Meals on Wheels where Council coordinates hundreds of meals a day for people living at home,” Allan said.

He says that there are many reasons for people to get involved with volunteering. “There are a range of benefits to helping others.”

“There are people who are new to town and want to get to know the place. We even have people who are new to Australia and offer to help with our migrant services team as a way to get to know the community.”

He said that many of these Council Services simply would not exist without the support of local volunteers. “Volunteers are the nuts and bolts of getting that work done,” he said.

If you have a yen to help others, he says, simply go to Orange Council’s website at:

https://www.orange.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/OCC_VolunteersProcedure.pdf

and start from there.