Saying thank you to the volunteers

Volunteer Support Workers for Victim Support were the centre of attention at a special dinner at the Royal New Zealand Police College in October.

It is more usual for these volunteers to be working quietly in the background with people whose lives have been thrown into disarray; offering options, explaining processes, assisting in practical ways and providing emotional support.

But the Wellington District staff put the spotlight firmly on the volunteers, thanking them and celebrating their work. Over a 100 people were at the event including volunteers from all the district teams (Wairarapa, Kapiti, Porirua, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, and Wellington) staff, partners and Lower Hutt Police’s Area Commander Inspector Richard Chambers. Generous donations from businesses and supporters throughout the district, carefully wrapped by staff, gave a distinctly festive feel and allowed literally dozens of raffles to be won.

Left to right: Jacinta Anderson, Donna Lonsdale and Dorothy Burley. Dorothy has worked as a volunteer for 17 years. Photo: Beth Watson

Four volunteers received service awards. Michael Dowling from Porirua and Barbara Haliwell from Wellington for having each served 10 years; and Don Cameron from Upper Hutt and Lesley Collins from Porirua for having each served 5 years.

As was acknowledged on more than one occasion during the evening, achieving length of service in this volunteer role requires amazing dedication, commitment and passion. The volunteers are rostered to provide a 24-hour service for victims and, day or night – they undertake to ‘be there’ within 45 minutes when they are called out.

Victim Support’s new Chief Executive Tony Paine, acknowledged the tremendous gift that the volunteers give to their communities and thanked them for the passion they bring for their work.

What keeps people in this work? Most volunteers agree that it is a deep sense of personal satisfaction knowing that you are helping people get back on their feet again.

Being with people when they are really hurting and helping them take control of their lives again, may be unsung work, but it can be very rewarding.

Our communities are so much stronger for having Victim Support volunteers there for us.