By KATRINA BRANDON
NATIONAL Volunteer Week was celebrated last month (May 19 to 25).
Playgroup Victoria (PV) held an appreciation afternoon tea for its volunteers. The event allowed volunteers to share their great achievements and get to know one another.
More than a dozen people from playgroups around Latrobe Valley attended the spread.
PV’s Development and Support Manager, Leanne Dhami told the group, “I started with PV through working through Latrobe as well, and kicked off some of the first playgroup stuff that happened in Latrobe too. So it’s wonderful to see this happening again, 12 years later, too.
“Today (May 23), we’re here to celebrate National Volunteer Week. Volunteers are the backbone of communities. Without volunteers in almost everything we do, every service we see, services for the community, and opportunities wouldn’t run, and playgroups are quite easily overlooked because they’re for a short time in someone’s life. Playgroup volunteers are the ones who hold it together.”
Among the volunteers was Latrobe City Council Deputy Mayor, Sharon Gibson, who shared connections with the day’s events.
Ms Gibson highlighted the importance of volunteering and the chance it gives some to find their “safe place” in society.
“I don’t know about anyone else, but I love volunteering,” she said.
“If it’s not for people like yourselves, things don’t happen, and our kids don’t have what they can have. So it’s important to thank you and appreciate what you do,” she told those assembled.
“It’s so important that you have safe places to be able to, whether it’s a mum, a dad or grandparents, whatever, to be able to go and say, ‘Are you having this problem too?’ Because often we feel so isolated, but many others are in the same boat.”
The event also allowed playgroups to converse, adding more opportunities for the network to grow and work together.
