SWAN Community Care recognised its longest serving volunteers during a celebration lunch held last week in honour of International Volunteer Day.

Service pins were awarded to volunteers who had served more than 15 years with community care, and gift vouchers were awarded to three volunteers who had served for more than 20 years.

Doug McCarty who had served for 20 years, Jean Bennion who had served for 22 years and Lynn Lake who had served for 29 years were all given a voucher from the City of Swan volunteer advisory committee, which was presented by City of Swan Mayor Tanya Richardson.

Swan Community Care volunteer coordinator Sharon Richards said volunteers undertook a variety of roles including administration, driving members of the community to appointments or social outings, and working in day clubs provided by the group.

“We are always looking for people who enjoy working with people, people who make a difference and bring a smile to the faces of others,” she said.

Recently, Ms Richards stumbled across a story written by Lynn Lake, Community Care’s current longest serving volunteer, back in June 2010, of how she came to be a volunteer with the group.

“One day quite some time ago now, when my children were in pre-school, I was sitting at home on my own listening to the radio,” Lynn had written.

“The usual music, news and general talking and chit chat was going on when suddenly something caught my attention: it was an announcement, I remember it was a lady’s voice talking about volunteering, saying the words; ‘Why not volunteer? We need your help!’”

“I sat there thinking, ‘I wonder if I could do that?’ I have always felt I was able to relate to the elderly but wasn’t sure what the duties entailed or if I was capable, so I wrote down the details and decided to ring the number.

“I spoke to a lady by the name of Margaret who was the coordinator, she was so nice and she suggest ed that I work in the day centre as an assistant, so I did that was 15 years ago now and it’s hard to believe where the time has gone.

“That very first day I met a lady by the name of Jean, we have been friends ever since through good times and bad and we have witnessed a lot of changes including the staff, however one thing that remains is the longevity of the majority of volunteers.

“During the past 15 years I have been fortunate to meet some really interesting people, sometimes people touch your life and stay with you always, I feel very honoured and privileged to have been let into their lives and I have never looked back.”

That story was penned more than 14 years ago.

Lynn has now been volunteering with Swan Community Care for more than 29 years, twice a week and so has given about 2958 days of her time to helping others in the community.

Ms Richards said Lynn had always been very generous and loved to share her artistic skills and talents.

“Coming up to Christmas and Easter there is a frenzy of activity making cards and decorations,” she said.

“Over the years she has supported countless club members develop their own skills with all sorts of different crafts including painting, paper-craft and needlework.

“Lynn has a great, positive view of life and a fabulous sense of humour and she brings a smile to the faces of all she works with, we couldn’t ask for a more dedicated volunteer.”

If you have a skill or talent you would like to share or you have some time and would like to bring a smile to somebody’s face, Swan Community Care would love to hear from you.

For more information contact Sharon Richards on 9267 9062 or Sharon.Richards@swan.wa.gov.au