WORLD Vision Mundaring held their beloved community donation stall in Mundaring shopping centre for the final time last week, ending more than 40 years of the group’s presence in the hills.

Committee member Nancy Johnston said it was a tough decision to let the charity group come to an end.

“It’s just the last year or 18 months, it’s just gotten harder and harder to get people to help, and people get sick, and life happens, and so it was really with very heavy hearts that we decided to close the group,” she said.

“I think World Vision will always be in all of our hearts.”

Ms Johnston has been with the group for 11 years, and one of its founders Mary Hayne was on the committee for the entire 41 years during which the club operated.

Ms Hayne said she got started with the group making clothes for hospital patients in Ethiopia and has seen the group grow over the years.

“It was a small group when I started, but we got bigger, and we used to join in all the things the shire put on like evening markets and events that we would take our stall to,” she said.

“It all took a lot of organising, but it was always worth it.”

The group held a weekly stall outside the Mundaring Woolworths, selling everything from baked goods and jam to handmade Christmas decorations and books to raise money for World Vision projects.

Fellow committee member Kryssie Winton, who has been with the group for 19 years, said the community was always generous.

“We definitely had our regulars, people who would come week after week,” she said.

“People were always just so giving, and particularly with our last stall, we were telling people they could take things whether they wanted to donate or not, and so many people brought up donations anyway, I was just blown away.”

Ms Hayne travelled extensively during her time running the Mundaring branch and sponsoring children through World Vision, and said it was always encouraging to see the difference World Vision projects and sponsorships were making to kids’ lives overseas.

“I’ve done a lot of travelling and seeing the circumstances people were living in and how we were helping them, and it made me feel like I was doing something worthwhile and good for the world,” she said.

“We put two sisters through nursing training, and

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the kids we sponsor often keep in touch after they age out of the sponsorship system.”

Mary kept a fabric doll gifted to her on one of her trips to South Africa, clothed in a bright orange dress and headband and handmade by women who Mary visited in her travels.

“I visited two of our sponsor children on that trip, my husband and I went to all sorts of projects to see what was being done, and it is really special to be able to see where your money is going and who it’s helping,” she said.

Ms Winton said she held close to her heart many stories of how World Vision had helped people.

“It just fills your heart, knowing that you’re doing something for someone else,” she said.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t get a thank you, who cares about the thank you?

“That thank you is coming from you knowing that you’re doing something to help someone.”

Ms Johnston wholeheartedly agreed.

“There’s a saying that being a volunteer is the art of giving without wanting anything back for it,” she said.

“It’s a satisfaction of yourself, to say nothing for the mental health benefits, and it doesn’t matter what kind of volunteering you do, it’s just about knowing that you’re doing something good for someone else.

“It’s just been wonderful for all of us, I’m happy I was part of it.”