Volunteers give heart and time

Eveline (Evie) started volunteering with Australian Red Cross four years ago, working with the Roadhouse program in Canberra. She helped serve up meals to people experiencing homelessness. Today she’s delivering even more. She's a RedxYouth member, and organiser of an event for people experiencing homelessness in the ACT. “The event was very successful, with lots of local businesses and volunteers helping to make it possible. The attendees loved the event and we are currently organising the next one!”

Volunteering and helping people comes naturally to Asho. It’s an invisible string that connects him to his mum, who recently passed away. “Mum told me that the two of us got big hearts. I took over her role. ” Asho volunteers at the Community Hub in Ceduna on the Eyre Peninsula. “I love doing it, love helping other people out. I had a bloke a couple of days ago, come in stressed out and I sat him out the back and said, “What’s going on?” Because they feel comfortable talking to me and I just calmed him down just like that. “If you ever want to talk, just come in, I’ll be here every day.”

Volunteering can be a great antidote to loneliness. It happened for two women, despite a nearly 60 year age gap. In her mid-30s working full time, Rhiannon felt something was missing when friends and family moved overseas. She decided to use her newfound time to give back to the community. Rhiannon signed up as a social visitor volunteer, never expecting to have the time of her life visiting 94-year-old Joan. Red Cross runs schemes providing regular social visits to people over 65 who have little or no social connections with other people.