Thank you to our volunteers
Published on 08 December 2020
It has been a particularly tough year for all of us, but despite the hardships and disruption our volunteers and carers continue to be our unsung heroes in our community. They generously give of their time and money to support worthwhile programs that would otherwise not be possible.
With COVID-19, we have needed our volunteers more than ever. They are our sports coaches and Meals on Wheels teams. They are those who run community programs supporting and uniting vulnerable and isolated members of the community, care for our native bushland, raise money for charity, and so much more.
Some of them, like our rural firefighters, volunteer despite the great personal risk involved, saving properties and lives, and working around the clock. Members of our own Horsley Park RFS, Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer, paid the ultimate price last summer to keep us safe.
Council values the hard work of our City’s volunteers and is pleased to have done what we could to support local volunteers during COVID-19. We provided care packages to local sports clubs and small community groups to help them be COVID-Safe. We put willing volunteers in touch with local groups through our volunteer register. We redeployed some of our staff to assist delivering Meals on Wheels. Recently, I also sent certificates of appreciation to as many of our volunteers as we could find to honour their hard work.
This week I celebrated with our nursery volunteers the milestone of growing 500,000 native plants that are used to beautify our City. This is an amazing achievement and all done by volunteers. The trees, shrubs and grasses that line our streets and are in our reserves are all thanks to their dedicated hard work.
In January I will have the honour of presenting Australia Day awards to a small number of outstanding volunteers, I love learning about the hard work of these generous individuals every year and I look forward to celebrating their efforts on 26 January.
On behalf of our City, I would like to thank every one of the thousands of volunteers in our City. Keep up the good work. You make our City and nation a stronger and better place to live.