Celebrating our amazing volunteers
More than 300 dedicated volunteers came together from around Victoria for the annual VMCH Volunteer Week Luncheon recently.
The lunch, held at the Hawthorn Arts Centre, was all about saying a big thanks to our incredible volunteers who donate their time and talents to VMCH in many ways.
The facts and statistics around VMCH’s volunteers are amazing. We had 653 volunteers that contributed 96,980 hours to supporting people at 36 VMCH location in 2018. That resulted in 803 people enjoying activities and community connections each week as a direct result of VMCH’s volunteers.
VMCH CEO Sonya Smart welcomed the volunteers to the luncheon and highlighted their amazing contribution to VMCH’s mission.
“You will find our dedicated volunteers in community and disability services, residential aged care, at our specialist school, in early childhood, our opportunity shops, the op shop warehouse and our pastoral care,” she said.
“All your efforts are deeply appreciated by everyone at VMCH and we hope that today we can show you in a small way.”
She made special mention of a group of volunteers who were celebrating an amazing 25 years with VMCH. They were Maria Ferreiro (Heathmont Op Shop), Christine Riordan (Bundoora Aged Care), Geoffrey Prosser (John R Hannah Aged Care) and Barbara Mioni (White Road Community Centre).
VMCH Board Member, Peter Hogan, also paid tribute to VMCH’s volunteers.
“VMCH could not fulfil its mission to create inclusive, compassionate and sustainable communities without the support of all of you,” he told the guests.
The popular 3AW radio presenter Pat Panetta hosted the event and made sure everyone had a wonderful time. He is pictured with White Road volunteer, Barbara Mioni in the second image below.
Volunteers came from far and wide to enjoy the lunch. VMCH’s community regional volunteers and staff from Shepparton and Wangaratta also made the trip to celebrate the day. They are pictured with our Community Services Carer Support team who were involved inour TeleFriend program in the first image below.
A highlight of the celebration was a special performance by the Move and Sing group. These performers are part of a music group that meets at VMCH’s day program for people with disability in Mt Waverley.