By Mikayla van Loon
A broad array of individual volunteers and groups have been recognised for their contributions to the Yarra Ranges community in a ceremony hosted by Federal Casey MP Aaron Violi.
Putting on his Casey Volunteer and Community Award morning tea on Saturday 9 December, it saw 39 individuals and 14 community groups recognised for their service.
From the Mooroolbark Miniature Railway to Girl Guides and Quilts for Orphans, as well as op shops, community cafes and toy libraries from across the electorate also included in the organisations, they were each congratulated for continued dedication to providing support and recreational activities to the region.
Individual recognition went to a great number of people doing incredible things to support not only their local urban communities but beyond.
People like Lilydale Township Action Group secretary Sharyn Manning, Montrose Township Group’s Eddie Tichelaar, Montrose Men’s Shed’s Terry Hudson, Lilydale Judo’s Shihai Goto, Holy Fools volunteers Meaghan Drew, Abbey Drake and Annie Ryan, Mooroolbark History Group’s Renae Jones, Yarra Ranges National Seniors’ Alan Somers, Discovery Community Care’s Linda Minderhout, Southern Cross Kids Camp’s Geoffrey Sheahan, Lilydale & Yarra Valley Show volunteers Jillian McCulloch, Greg Macdonald and Adrian Luxford and Elishacare founder Geoff Marsh.
For two other recipients, Mount Evelyn RSL’s Chris Thiele and Rotary Club of Lilydale (RCL) member Ian Darvell, the recognition was humbling but neither of them expected their work would be acknowledged in such a way.
“It was a complete surprise and I don’t really think I deserve the recognition, really because there’s a lot of good people who have done a lot more than I’ve done,” Mr Darvell said.
“There were a lot of recipients of the awards from all walks of life and I don’t pursue the aspect of being rewarded for stuff I do, it’s just something I enjoy doing. Helping people where I can [is] something which I’ve always enjoyed doing, I don’t chase recognition for those things but it’s nice when you do,” Mr Thiele said.
Mr Darvell has been a volunteer with the Lilydale Community Youth Club through RCL since the late 2000s, dedicating his efforts to supporting the programs and outputs for the young people who utilise the facility.
“We’ve organised equipment for the group down there and then we organised to renovate the club rooms,” he said.
“So the Rotary Club got down there and stripped out the club rooms and renovated and repainted it and tidied it up for them.”
Supporting young people locally and internationally is a big part of what Rotary does as an organisation, so Mr Darvell said this is just an extension of that work.
“Youth is very important, particularly with the Rotary clubs. That’s one of our major areas and we obviously realise they are the future so we need to support them as much as possible and contribute as much as we can,” he said.
“The Youth Club is doing a wonderful job. They’re keeping kids on track and we have come across several kids who have been involved who have had some problems in the past and just being involved down there has pulled them in line and they’re great contributors now.
“So you can see the benefit of what youth clubs do and our youth club is not the only one, around there’s a lot of other groups that are supporting young people, which is obviously important.”
Having served in the Australian Army as a National serviceman, Mr Thiele said it was a natural progression around 10 years ago to join the RSL.
“I got heavily involved with retirement and that gave me more time to try and help some of my service member families and servicemen themselves who need help,” he said.
“That’s what RSLs are all about, besides looking after memorials, and so on being responsible for making sure they are looked after.”
Retirement too gave Mr Thiele time to extend his capabilities to visiting people in hospital or driving them places, sell poppies and badges for Anzac and Remembrance Day, as well as lead services at places like Evelyn Ridge Retirement Village.
Volunteering in this way, Mr Thiele said, brings him a great amount of joy and fulfilment too, to know he is contributing to someone else’s happiness.
“I see the appreciation that people often express or don’t always show but it comes out in different ways with different people,” he said.
“When you do help them do different things, whether it be visiting or carrying or carting people around and doing the services and so on, people will often say thank you very much and you know you’ve done your best to try and help people as best you can.”
Similarly Mr Darvell said living in the same place for 50 years with his wife Helen who also volunteers greatly, it feels good to give back to a place that has provided so much.
“We just feel if you live in a community, it’s nice to be able to put back what you take out of the community,” he said.
Being able to recognise this service of so many volunteers, Mr Violi said, was such a privilege and it’s those people and groups who make the community so strong.
“These volunteers and community groups are the backbone of our community. They are special people who go above and beyond to make the Yarra Ranges such a wonderful, tight-knit place to call home,” he said.
“It was my pleasure to be able to reward and give back to our hardworking volunteers and community groups who do so much without ever asking for any recognition.”
