Bev Hodges (left) and Karen Garrington at the National Volunteer Week breakfast held by Volunteer Bay of Plenty this week. Photo/John Borren
For one of the agencies which steers volunteering across this land, the tag attached to its site is very apt.
"The heart of our community." And what a sound and solid heart ... but with an often unrecognised beat. In so many instances volunteers are simply taken for granted. A
sort of "someone will sort it out" philosophy does exist.
I'm sure of that because I have heard it myself. If something needs to be done, someone else will step up and do it, no worries. I guess that is a fairly traditional human trait, because while other people happily continue to step up and get things done then everything is just fine and dandy— no need for them to bother.
My first foray at volunteering to do something for no financial reward, except for knowing that we'd done something pretty good and accordingly felt pretty good about it, was helping clear a spot and plant some little trees at the local kindergarten our lad attended.
It was a five-hour task that made me and the other three chaps who turned out feel so absolutely good about. That was more than 20 years ago and, yep, I can still see "my" trees.
