Volunteers
Volunteer Stories
The City of Port Phillip wants to acknowledge and recognise the valuable contribution that volunteers make to our local community and has provided them with this space to tell their story.
Anna Rogalina
I have learnt from my parents that:
"Only what we give way
enriches us from day to day.
For not in getting but in giving
We can find a joy in living¿
I arrived in Melbourne with my husband and teenage daughter 14 years ago. Our life seemed to be happy and secure in Australia. In that time English was my main problem. With the death of my husband the number of problems was increased.
There was only one way for me to survive - to be with other people. That's why I became a volunteer tour guide with the Migrant Resource Centre. A two year course at Monash University 'Graduate Diploma of Community Education; which I completed in 1997, gave me an opportunity to use my knowledge and experience as a former teacher when the Russian Women's Centre was set up in Port Phillip.
Also, I am a volunteer home tutor - ESL - teacher for Russian seniors. I am helping then to settle down in a new environment and making their lives more interesting and more enjoyable by singing and writing. I try to do my best to assist others in any possible way. This is my cup of tea and I am happy.
Below is a poem delivered by Anna at our 2006 Civic Awards event where she was nominated for Citizen of the Year.
My Place
The sandy beaches and a salty breeze
And parks with ever blooming trees
When seagulls scream a pleasant tune
And lamps on street as bright as moon.
Where air is cold and clear at night
And morning brings a hope and light.
This place is home for you and me
The only place that's good to be.
By Anna Rogalina, South Melbourne
Mrs Olive Johnston
Mrs Olive Johnston passed away on 8 November, 2006 at the age of 89. This is part of her story.
"Auntie Ol", as she was known, founded the St Kilda Boys and Girls club (now known as the Police Citizens Youth Club) in 1947. Much of the Club's success must be, and is, attributed to Olive Johnston. She was one of society's unpraised, unpaid heroines. Under her guidance for over 40 years the club thrived and moved from the small meeting room in her own house (14 members), to the St Kilda Town Hall, then to its first permanent site in Frampton Street (250 members), then to its current location in Inkerman Street, St Kilda (450 members in 1977).
Mrs. Olive Johnston's dedication and commitment to helping youths was unsurpassed and noted by many. In 1969 Mrs Johnston was the recipient of the first ever City of St Kilda Civic Award now known as the City of Port Phillip Civic Awards. This award was the highest honour St Kilda could bestow. It marked community service of very high order and over a very long period of time and recipients hold the award for life. In 1979 Olive was awarded an Order of the British Empire (Civil) in the Australian Women and Imperial Honours for her youth involvement.
"When young people are ready to accept help they will ask for it; all you have to do is be there when they need you."
Olive Johnston.
Cecielia Gregory
An article written by Suzy Zail on the City of Port Phillip - 2005 Young Citizen of the Year
Cecielia Gregory wears her flaming red hair as an afterthought. Swept up in a lazy ponytail, it brushes the collar of her well-worn school uniform. She sits, sipping a soy latte, all the markings of a typical teenage schoolgirl on display - the knee-high socks pooling at her ankles, an easy smile, scuffed mary-janes. And then she begins to talk and it's obvious why this teenager won the City of Port Phillip's 2005 Young Citizen of the Year Award.
The seventeen year-old VCE student won the award for volunteering. ¿It's not something I consciously think about,¿ Cecielia says. ¿I volunteer because I enjoy it. Once you're involved and see how much help is needed, you don't want to do anything but help.¿ When Cecielia talks of her charity work - the Red Cross door knocks, the Good Friday Appeals, the bake sales and fundraising drives - she waves her hand dismissively as if to say, it's nothing really.
Cecielia's first volunteer job was sewing beads onto ballet costumes. Cecielia was eight and looking out for others was already second nature to her.
"My parents were ill, so from a very young age I was used to helping out." By the age of five Cecielia was making her own school lunches, doing her own laundry and managing the volatile emotions of both her parents. Cecilia's father has schizophrenia, her mother a borderline personality disorder.
Cecielia's grandmother introduced her to PATS when she was twelve. 'Paying Attention To Self' is a peer support program for teenagers with parents affected by mental illness. Education is a big part of the program, as is sharing coping strategies to deal with the stigma and stereotypes associated with mental illness.
"Having a mentally ill parent can be a very isolating experience. I was encouraged to share my experiences and ask questions. Understanding the illness allowed me to love the best of my parents." It also helped Cecielia appreciate that her parents' confusing behaviour and hurtful words were the illness talking, not her mum and dad.
Cecielia now helps organise the social outings and discussion sessions she once attended. Every Monday after school, while the rest of Year 12 are unwinding in front of the TV or getting a head start on homework, Cecielia sits with a group of strangers and talks about herself. Elise Willersdorf the PATS coordinator with whom Cecielia leads these groups sees Cecielia's role as vital to the group's success.
"Cecielia creates the dynamic that allows these kids to feel safe. She validates each of their experiences and shares with them the positive coping strategies she employs in her life."
"It's important to have friends who understand what you're going through," Cecielia adds. "The kids who stay out all night roaming the streets, drinking and skipping school just want to escape their homes," she says. "We talk. I don't need to know specifics. I just need to know how they're feeling so I can help them feel better, so that they can make healthier decisions."
As part of her peer leadership training with PATS, Cecielia studying counselling. "Mental illness is a sensitive issue. I had to alter my approach depending on the personalities in the group. Some kids respond better to a soft approach, while others appreciate bluntness.¿ Cecielia learnt to monitor how her ideas were affecting those listening to her, so that she could find the 'right words' for each child; for the angry kids and the withdrawn kids, the rebellious and the painfully shy. Making the environment welcoming and developing trust amongst the group was vital to PATS' success.
Cecielia knows from experience that taking care of one's parents, physically and emotionally, takes its toll on a child. She spends a good part of the group's time therefore, on reminding the teenagers to take care of themselves, to focus on their own needs, hopes and dreams.
Cecilia's attention has also been focused on educating teachers and health professionals to explore ways to speak to young people about parental mental illness.
"The first step is recognising a child has a problem at home. The next step is gaining the child's trust and starting a conversation."
Cecilia will be finishing school at the end of the year. She's considering studying social work and plans to stay involved with PATS. She wants to extend the program's reach because "young people are often left out of the equation."
Cecilia never expected to win an award for volunteering. "I've already received so much. Volunteering at PATS has made me more curious, more understanding of people and more appreciative of what I have," Cecilia smiles. "I've been dealt a pretty good hand.¿
Cecilia Gregory sips the last of her soy latte, pulls up her socks, grabs her school bag, and heads to assembly.
Brad Volunteers with Gawith Villa
I volunteer through Gawith Villa as a leisure buddy for Andy. This is me pushing my buddy around a skate park, something we do most weeks and as you can see, it gives him a lot of pleasure!
Patricia-Rae Ferguson
I am a volunteer at Port Melbourne Yacht Club (PMYC).
This came about because I live in Port Melbourne and heard, in September 2004, that PMYC was holding the world championships for Hobies in December and January of that year and were desperate for volunteers to help out. So, I emailed the club and said that I would be happy to help out for a couple of days in any capacity that they needed me, taking my absolute lack of sailing skills into account. PMYC immediately responded and said, yes, they did indeed need me and could I attend training on the computer program used at PMYC to capture results of races the next Saturday. So, from then until the start of the regatta in late December, I found my way around the club itself and, most importantly, found out what a Hobie was!
The actual championships arrived and I turned up for my duties on Day 1 to find that they were still short staffed and my name kept appearing under duties and dates right through to the end of the series. It was a wonderful, fascinating, stressful and fun time and I loved it. Each day I arrived at the club rooms at 7am and, exhausted, left around 7pm. I learnt so much about sailing, sailors and the whole background to the running of a successful regatta and hoped that any contribution by me, helped.
From that beginning, I have continued with the training provided by PMYC to its volunteers (we are called the Racing and Rescue Team!) and now hold a power boat handling license, a level 2 first aid certificate, a radio operator's license and have attended numerous race management and club management seminars run by Yachting Victoria and the City of Port Phillip. Indeed - find me a seminar on race or club management and off I will go!
As most of the duties that I undertake at weekends for PMYC are in the race management area, I have not spent as much time on the water as I would like, but on Wednesday evenings the red and white Port 3 rescue boat with me on board can be seen patrolling after any club boats on the water, as well as keeping an eye on any other boats on the water in the vicinity of Port Melbourne. This is a particularly lovely time of the day to be on the water and I can absolutely understand sailors wanting to take part in these evening sailing events.
PMYC is a small, family-oriented and very friendly club with a team of about 20 volunteers. People come and go as their circumstances change but friendships made either in the club rooms before and after the races at the weekends, or on the water racing around trying to ensure the safety of the large fleet of boats both belonging to PMYC sailors and others using the water nearby, endure and I am very happy that this is so.
Keith M. Stodden
After 42 years service as an Immigration Officer I retired in 1991, at age 60. Having no dependents, I increased my volunteering for Neighbourhood Watch, Vintage Men, Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament, Uniting Church Adult Fellowship and Op Shop, Australian Lesbian & Gay Archives, Metropolitan Community Church of Melbourne, ALSO Foundation and Cornish Association of Victoria. I also started with the Victorian Aids Council. Left them some years later and concentrated on the above groups.
I have received 2 certificates from the Premier in 2001, an Award for Excellence in Multicultural Affairs from the Governor in November 2005 and am due to receive an Award and a Certificate from the Mayor of Glen Eira in May 2006.
Ben Stark
As a very young child living in the Ukrainian village of Tomashpol, Benjamin Stark remembers speaking his mother tongue of Yiddish. Following the harrowing years of WWII, the holocaust and eventual liberation of the Jewish people, life in Soviet Russia for the Jewish people did not return to the way it was before the war and the young Benjamin Stark couldn't learn his native Yiddish language.
After many difficult years living in Russia as a teacher, Mr Stark arrived in Australia November 12, 1980 with his wife and 10 year old son. On his second day in Australia, he sang at a Jewish community club and eventually joined a Yiddish choir. After attending English courses in Australia he was interviewed by the Education Department to register his teacher's degree and was the first classroom music teacher from the Soviet Union whose qualifications were recognised in Victoria.
Since his retirement in 1999, he has volunteered in the local community. He has headed the Association of Former Inmates of NAZI Concentration Camps and Ghettos from the former Soviet Union for many years. He also runs a Yiddish discussion group for former Soviet Jews, providing the opportunity for them to speak the language they had once lost and teaches basic English to Soviet Jews and even teaches German with U3A.
Mr Stark says he came from a land and time that knew no tolerance to what he considers the most tolerant country on earth. He wants to give whatever he can to whomever he can.
Pat Crofts
Pat Crofts of St Kilda has her heart in Sacred Heart - both the Mission and the church. She has volunteered at the Mission for 23 years, initially in the kitchen, and over the last 16 years with Sr Rose's Singalong at the Robe and Grey St hostels.
She also sings in the Sacred Heart choir, takes the readings at the church, volunteers every week for Scope, a disability service for children and adults with physical and multiple disabilities, and is the knitting instructor at Southport Uniting Care's Knit and Knatter - a knitting group for isolated women with disabilities.
Pat is a committed Christian and has volunteered in a grass roots way for most of her life with people who are very disadvantaged.
Gerry (Gennady) Vilkhov
I have been volunteering since 2000 for the community with Healthy Tourism Senior Citizens Club VIGOR and the Association of Former Inmates of NAZI Concentration Camps and Ghettoes from the former Soviet Union.
I have done volunteer tutor training of adult students in 2000 and have been doing this job for 3 years. The same in Swinburne TAFE after Holmesglen Institute of TAFE. I've got a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of Voluntary Services to the community in International Year of Volunteers 2001. I am doing many projects on the voluntary basis.
I was very proud to be involved in celebration of our Cultural Diversity Week 18 March 2006 and my photo was accepted and used along with photographs of 74 others in a community performance event during the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Liz Adkins
I began volunteer work with Port Phillip Curatorial Services twelve months ago. This department manages the Council's Art and Heritage collections, and has assisted with projects like the St Kilda Pier Kiosk redevelopment. I was initially asked to catalogue new acquisitions to the heritage collection - to research, describe, catalogue and photograph a wide variety of different objects, from photographs of St Kilda Pier in the 1980's, though to old badges, medals, film- even an old cast iron foot warmer that kept Council officer workers warm in the 1920's! The collection exists to help people understand the history of St Kilda, South Melbourne, Port Melbourne and their communities.
Recently I've been asked to put together a display of some of the new acquisitions, most especially, the many badges, medals and pins that have been cast for special events, from fund-raising for a coal-mining disaster in Queensland to marking the centenary of white settlement in Port Melbourne. They give you an insight into how people in this area have responded to hard times, like World War One and the Depression, or their aspirations for their children.
Working as a volunteer is essential for me to build the skills and networks I need to build a career in the heritage industry. Like most jobs in the arts in Australia, competition is very fierce and you need to be very determined. The staff at Port Phillip Curatorial Services have helped me enormously, their training and encouragement have consolidated everything I've learnt elsewhere, and they make me feel so welcome whenever I come in.
Jackson A. Glenister
I became a volunteer initially at the South Port Nursing Home in 1987. My main duty was to obtain annual subscriptions. I subsequently joined the Red Cross in 1990 as a volunteer in City Road, South Melbourne and head office at North Melbourne. Due to health problems I ceased my voluntary efforts in 2005. I received a medal for 10 years continuous service in 1999.
I have also been the honorary secretary of the South Melbourne Senior Citizens Club since 1998 and also acted in the same positions for the South Melbourne Trugo Club from 1999.
Tell Us Your Volunteer Story
We want you to inspire us and share your passion. Tell us what drives you to volunteer and give of your time and effort. We would like to share the volunteer stories our community has to tell and to acknowledge the important and at times hidden work that takes place in our community.
It can be a poem, a quote, a story, even a picture. Submitted stories will be published here, on our website and possibly used on other promotional materials Council produces around the topic of volunteering and active citizenship.
Fill in the attached form if you have a story you would like to share with the community on the issue of volunteering, and we will publish it on the Port Phillip Website.
Tell_us_your_volunteer_story.doc
