Skip to main content

Volunteers

How this rural town provides care for locals from early childhood to twilight years

Communities struggling to get early childhood and aged care services can take inspiration from this unique solution.
A group of kids play child sized large plastic cars and water buckets on grass in front of a large playground

4yo aspiring firefighter 'walks into station like he owns it' on 85th station visit

Liam Moffitt wants to visit as many of the 334 Fire and Rescue stations in New South Wales as he can as part of a fundraising mission for burns survivors.
Liam Moffitt dressed in bright red helmet, custom-made firefighting uniform, holding trauma teddy

Outback pilots urge Aussies to embrace 'rich' adventures in the bush

Flying chaplains are encouraging more people to head to the outback where they say a world of opportunities awaits. After 16 years of servicing remote residents, pilots Natalie and Simon share their experiences.
Updated
A man in a helicopter over land

Able to read cursive handwriting? The war memorial wants your help transcribing love letters

Within the documents released are letters sharing "heartening" news and even "mundane gossip" from more than a century ago.
Updated
three nurses in old fashioned uniforms writing letters

What happened to missing Victorian woman Samantha Murphy?

Ten days have passed since Victorian woman Samantha Murphy left her home in Ballarat to go for a run then disappeared without a trace, the official search now scaled back.
Updated
ABC News Current
Duration: 7 minutes 55 seconds

CFA backflips on cost-cutting decision to remove sanitary bins from fire brigade branches

The Country Fire Authority is under fire after a letter sent to a CFA captain reveals the organisation was planning to remove sanitary bins from a regional Victorian branch.
Updated
CFA volunteer Bec Closter standing in front of a blurred CFA truck, she is wearing her CFA volunteer uniform.

Town's decade-long labour of love restores 131-year-old butter factory to former glory in SA

Thousands of donated hours, countless sausage sizzles and a donation to assuage a former scout's conscience over a stolen cheese wheel, have breathed new life into this historic South Australian butter factory.
A black and white photograph showing a building with a barrel roof next to a road that also runs past

Town's op shop offers a place to chat for the lonely and those new to town

Margreet Diment knows what it's like not having a space to relax and chat. So she opened an enterprise in Bordertown to help the many migrants affected by the housing shortage.
Updated
A woman with long white hair stands at a shop counter with items for sale behind

SLSC quadruples volunteer numbers with simple roster change

Volunteering numbers have been in decline over the past few years in NSW... but a small life saving club on the far south coast has found a way to buck that trend.
ABC News Current
Duration: 1 minute 40 seconds

Struggling to mount beach patrols, surf club's simple idea brings volunteers flooding back

By letting volunteers choose their rostered hours, a NSW surf life saving club has almost quadrupled its patrolling members, setting an example other clubs are now following.
Updated
A young woman in surf life saving uniform on the a sunny beach while holding a club board

Bermagui Surf Life Saving Club quadrupled volunteer numbers with simple roster change

Bermagui Surf Life Saving Club is blazing a trail other organisations can follow.
An ATV at the beach and two people smiling.
Duration: 1 minute 48 seconds

Volunteer's life of community service a legacy of the father he never knew

When Kevin Douglas' father died, a small country town rallied around his family. He has spent the next six decades helping others in his community as a way to pass on that kindness.
Updated
A grey haired man in blue blazer holds framed Australia Day award

Why more Aussies are choosing to go for a run every Saturday morning

As the one millionth participant crosses the finish line, Mike will be lacing up, as he does every Saturday.   
Amy and Holly Matthews running in the Frankston parkrun event.

Meet the family fighting fires as well as misconceptions around female firefighters

Colleen and her two daughters are part of a growing number of female volunteer firefighters who have signed up, helping to dispel enduring misconceptions around what it takes to be a firie.
A mother and two daughters in protective gear

Buying a Lions Club doughnut is a summer tradition that helps spruce up small SA beach town

Buying a doughnut is not just a tradition when visiting this South Australian small town, it also contributes to the beautification of the place.
A woman standing and a boy sitting on the back of a bench holding doughnuts with the sea and a jetty behind

Beachport Lions contributing 'hole' lot to town through selling tens of thousands of doughnuts

Buying a doughnut is not just a tradition when visiting this South Australian small town, it also contributes to the beautification of the place.
ABC News Current
Duration: 1 minute 16 seconds

Army cadets make a comeback as youths look to unlock leadership opportunities

Army cadets used to be in almost every school and country town. Over the years the program fell out of popularity, but now it seems numbers are rebounding.
A group of army cadets in uniform sitting around on seats and talking.

Dramatic flood rescue in Victorian town spurs effort to revive local SES units

The rescue of a man and his dog from floodwaters in Victoria has highlighted a shortage of State Emergency Service volunteers in regional and rural areas, with it taking an hour for a non-local unit to get to the scene.
Updated
A blurry phone photo of a car swept along by brown flood water, as an SES worker in orange runs along the flood back nearby.

Meet the Perth chef whose kitchen is giving a helping hand to those having a hard time in life

A business in Perth's south is flourishing by providing employment to the disadvantaged as well as selling products that help customers feel like they're making a difference.
Updated
Two women working in a kitchen smiling.

Victims of one of SA's worst bushfires look back on loss and recovery

It has been 10 years since the Bangor bushfire raged through the southern Flinders Ranges, but those who witnessed it remember it like it was yesterday.
Updated
A woman and a man holding a photo of a fire.

Meet the army of volunteers behind Queensland's biggest book festival

Lifeline Bookfest Brisbane is run by 700 volunteers who will stack and sell more than a million second-hand books during the nine-day event. And each person has their own unique story about why they support the crisis hotline.
Updated
Two young women holding books

Filipino firies step up to save a country fire station after community's desperate plea for volunteers

With just half a dozen active members, the future once looked grim for Port Wakefield's volunteer firefighting station. But 18 months later, the number of firefighters has more than doubled.
The men in yellow firefighting uniforms and helmets stand in front of a white fire truck.

Meet the Australian 'builders without borders' repairing war-torn homes and schools in Ukraine

Amid the rubble of Ukrainian buildings destroyed by Russian attacks, Australian builders Manfred Hin and Hamish Stirling have put their lives on hold, picked up their tools and gotten to work. 
An image of a man in his 30s sitting on a wooden deck, next to an image of man in his 60s in a workshop

Wildlife care groups forced to euthanase abandoned flying fox pups amid shortage of volunteers to care for them

Wildlife carers say grey-headed flying foxes are "amazing creatures" — but the species is dying at an alarming rate, and they're running out of volunteers to help save them.
image of baby flying fox held in a wrap with a dummy in it's mouth

Volunteer firefighter seeks better PTSD support so sufferers do not need to 'jump through hoops'

A regional WA firefighter opens up about dealing with trauma amid a statewide call for the same presumptive post-traumatic stress disorder coverage given to paid emergency crews.
Updated
Anonymous shot of a firefighter holding his helmet