Originally appeared in the National Seniors Magazine - Our Generation
Written by Emma Edwards, Communications team
For Charlie-Helen, volunteering takes many forms – evolving with an ever-changing social and technological landscape. But it’s a finite resource, she warns, and one which requires nurturing.
“In the wake of the fires we’re hearing about $50 million being chucked into the bucket for volunteer firefighters and another $70 million donated with a call for volunteers to do this and this and this to rebuild the country,” she says.
“I’m hearing all that and I’m thinking, we’re essentially relying on the retirees of our population to do all this work for us, and there’s only so many of them – especially when a lot of people can no longer afford to stop working.”
Charlie-Helen herself still works full-time (and then some) in communications roles.
“The more I do, the more opportunities I see to tap into people’s need to participate in a way that means something but is achievable for them.
“One of the groups I founded 13 years ago was a wine group; we raise money for charity, typically for suicide prevention. In bushfires, that’s something that doesn’t necessarily come out in the immediate crisis, but a bit later on. So, a lot of the work that I do is actually fundraising for that next stage, which is making sure that people are being looked after and their health and wellbeing is supported when the media focus has shifted elsewhere, but the fall-out for them is continuing.
“One of the mantras of the group is that whilst everybody is having fun tonight, not everybody is having fun in our community. With last and this year’s bushfires, about eight different wineries in our region were affected, so our group had people going out and helping to take down vines, cutting and pruning. Then, for our recent fundraiser, I was contacted by the pit crew for local theatre productions – trumpet players, saxophonists, flutes. Not your normal pub band, but they said ‘we don’t know how we can help, but we can play an instrument’, so that’s what they did. They played and people donated.”
With experience across the spectrum, from micro-volunteering initiatives to social media management, Charlie-Helen says that the right message is critical to inspiring and mobilising.
“We had the Sampson Flat Fire here in South Australia and, at that time, I was one of 18 admins on one Facebook page. We were working 24/7 for about a month, essentially managing all the communications that happened around that fire. Because what you find is, when something’s happening the first thing everyone does is go to Facebook. It’s not the ABC news, it’s actually Facebook. Today with bushfires they have apps and all sorts to help, but at that time the authorities hadn’t got their act together on social media, so it was left to people like us – volunteers – to manage the flow of information.
“From that time, I developed a database of people who are willing to help get the message out in a crisis; we share information and get involved in groups and help coordinate volunteer efforts. For example, I’m in about three different groups at the moment and one of things we’re doing is getting volunteers to start growing plants so that we can help revegetate.”
By raising awareness of what’s going on in the community, she says, “you end up with a very good, compassionate group of people”.
ENDS…
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