MSWA Bulletin Summer 16

VOLUNTEERING
UPDATE
DAWN BURKE, MSWA COORDINATOR OF VOLUNTEERS
Ho! Ho! Ho! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year! Wow! We are about to enter 2017 at full speed
ahead, watch out, here we come. It’s a brand new year,
which always holds new goals and opportunities for fresh
beginnings. I trust this edition of Bulletin finds you all safe and
well, while perhaps feeling a little bit heavier from all the good
tidings that Christmas brings with it.
It has been some months since I chatted with you last. There
is always something that has happened or is about to happen.
It amazes me how busy this role of Coordinator of Volunteers
can be; I love the diversity that my job offers. I must say thank
you to my Volunteers for making this a fantastic role. I enjoy
working alongside each and every one of you and I always
look forward to seeing you around the various locations and
events along the way.
Volunteering for me is all about the people, in some way,
shape or form, whether it is volunteering directly with them
or indirectly behind the scenes. Working in this industry is
definitely all about the people, and I love working with the
MSWA volunteers; you are my people! For this, and many
other reasons I thank you all for what you do for MSWA and
our Members and staff. You are all truly amazing and we don’t
take any of you for granted.
September saw another Members’ camp at Woodman’s Point.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend however the Members and
staff were fortunate enough to have two volunteers assisting
throughout the four days. I would like to thank Rosalind, who
is an old hand at these Members’ camps now, and a new
recruit to MSWA and camps, Jacqueline. Jacqueline also
travelled from Australind to join the Members in Coogee. I
believe they had a wonderful time and the Members truly
enjoyed their company and the assistance they provided. The
staff were also thankful, as it allowed them to concentrate on
the camp activities with the Members.
I was lucky enough to go on the Carers Retreat in October
to Busselton with Tess from the Occupational Therapy
Department. This was a lovely experience and very different
to a Members’ camp. It is important to acknowledge and
celebrate our carers and give them the rest they deserve
away from their caring role at home with their loved ones.
This provides them with the opportunity to recharge their
batteries to carry on their role.
October also brought a very busy and extremely tiring family
camp, especially for our staff. We didn’t have any volunteers
for this camp, however staff, together with OT students,
attended and worked well and truly above and beyond their
duties and regular working hours. For them to do this involves
volunteering, as they offer extra hours in a voluntary capacity.
For any camp to run smoothly and be successful, it requires
dedicated staff to block off a portion of their regular work
week and home life to help. I would like to thank all the MSWA
staff and students who give time outside of their normal
hours, as do the MSWA Management and Members as well.
The Melbourne Cup was here, right on the knock of 1 November.
This is a huge event for MSWA at Wilson and it takes a lot of
time to organise; from the luncheon to the raffles and many
sweeps around the building. The numbers keep increasing
for lunch each year which makes the volunteers’ day in the
kitchen just that little bit busier. Thank you Rath and Priya, it
was an amazingly busy day and you deserved to put your feet
up and have a rest. Our volunteer resident ‘bookie’ Sheila,
organised all the sweeps and kept all the punters at bay and
made a few of them very happy. It wouldn’t be Melbourne
Cup without the fashion and this year Rosalind, one of
our volunteers, won the Best Hat competition. I didn’t see the
hat myself, but if anyone knows Rosalind, I can guarantee it
was red.
I missed our Melbourne Cup Lunch, as I was invited to the
City of Melville Volunteer Resource Centre to celebrate
International Volunteer Managers Day. I’d like to thank the
City of Melville and their team, Renae and Sarah for putting on
such a wonderful and relaxing event. Rachel Green, Director
of The Emotional Intelligence Institute took the Volunteer
Managers through a morning of self-care with a focus on
mindfulness meditation. Can you believe I meditated in a
room full of people, with my eyes closed while walking? I was
amazed no one collided through this process.
The Western Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO)
approached me with some complimentary tickets to an
evening of ‘Stuart Skelton sings Wagner’ on 26 November.
WASO wanted to acknowledge our well deserving volunteers
and I’m happy to say nine of our volunteers took up this
generous offer of double passes. They thoroughly enjoyed the
opportunity.
28 | MSWA BULLETIN SUMMER 2016