Biography:
Diocesan Disaster & Recovery President, Maitland/Newcastle Diocese
Why you volunteer?
It was a way for me to give back. Ironically, even though I intended to give, I ended up receiving more from the Society than I ever could have imagined.
Why do you volunteer for SVdP?
I started work for St Vincent de Paul approximately 10 years ago as a result of continuous pressure from my wife to join. cathy was involved in centres and her idea was we could work together as a team as we have done throughout our married life and rearing our children.
When it became evident that disaster recovery needed volunteers to form a team I went along to the meeting as an observer only and ended up joining. When the Lake Macquarie disaster recovery coordinator's term ended, I was appointed to that position. During this time I drove the bus for Vinnies Youth transporting them to kids camp and helped setup camp and joined in the fun.
The Kosovas also became part of our lives. Each Saturday we would take a busload from Singelton to Ulladulla leaving them in Vinnies flats for the week, returning with a different busload the following week. We followed this procedure for several weeks.
A lot of Saturday nights were spent near Hamilton Railway station and opposite a Hotel as part of St Vincent de Paul's night care setup. Night people are very different from day people but are still as friendly and interesting.
I was appointed Diocesan Disaster RecoveryPresident for Maitland/Newcastle Diocese and immediately became involved in planning and participating in training exercises in coordination with DoCS and our Community Partners. These exercises were held at Warners Bay and Muswellbrook and proved to be a very good learning tool.
I now hold the position of Disaster Recovery State Vice President. I also drive a truck emptying clothing bins in Lake Macquarie Region and picking up surplus sorted clothing from other Regions in our Diocese. Vinnies volunteers take on a variety of roles and work in different areas life is full but never dull.