November 29th, 2022Just sayin’… By Donna Kelly

DECEMBER 5 is/was International Volunteer Day. The is/was is
because it depends what day you are reading this.

I don’t volunteer at the moment. Although with the tiny wage I receive
from The Local Publishing Group (are you reading this, Kyle?) sometimes I feel like a
volunteer.
But I have done my fair share. Certainly not as much as many of those featured in
our pages in this edition, and in many other editions, but I can hold my head high.
Which is amazing when I remember what a poor start I got off to.
I played the piano when I was younger, I think my mother was channelling some
inner hope of her own, and my teacher decided her students should play at an aged
care home for Christmas.
This was fine, although thinking back I do feel sorry for those kind, older people
who listened ever so politely and even clapped at the end of each terribly played piece.
The smart ones would have removed any hearing devices. Perhaps they all had?
Anyway, we all had a small bag of lollies to hand out to any stranger who took
our fancy. I saw a man up the back, who looked like he liked a lolly or two, and
shyly pushed my bag into his wrinkled hands expecting to see tears of happiness and
gratitude. But no, he pushed the bag back and said, quite rudely, “no thank-you”.
What the hell? As any 10-year-old would do, I fought back and pushed the bag
towards him again, and was hit with another rejection.
I was getting pretty annoyed by now, as I glanced around I saw every other
bag had been happily received, but then a staffer came and gently steered me away,
telling me that man did not in fact eat lollies. Looking back now, I think of things
like diabetes etc, but honestly, if a kid offers you lollies, just accept them politely and
either re-gift them or throw them away later. Like crappy Christmas gifts.
So my first volunteer effort did not go down well. But a few years later, after I
had calmed down, I tried again. This time it was as the editor of the school magazine
at Mt Eliza High School – that was a pretty easy gig but it did take up quite a lot
of lunches, and we, the editorial team, had to juggle between what we thought was
a great read and what the teachers would allow. We all loved the “12 ways to have
sex” cartoons by two year 9 boys, but the teachers were so prudish. And then there
was the “Guide to shoplifting” which got dropped as well. Again, year 9 students,
girls this time, who were so proficient in shoplifting that they stole 25 presents so
every student in the class could give a birthday gift to our English teacher. She was so
overcome with emotion, she cried. (Note to kids, don’t try this at home. You will get
arrested and end up with a record. Just like they did. Nah, joking, they were fine but
don’t steal anyway.)
There were a few other organisations in my 20s and 30s but mostly I was working
or travelling. But when we hit regional Victoria, volunteering gigs really ramped up.
I think Kyle and I were on about seven committees at one stage. Glenlyon Fine
Food & Wine Fayre, Glenlyon Art Show, Glenfest Music Festival, Glenlyon Progress,
Glenlyon News…and Kyle was even in charge of the volunteers at the Hepburn
Shire’s information centres. (I actually think the volunteers were in charge of him.)
I remember taking the dogs for a walk one morning, about 6am, and being
stopped by someone in a car asking if I could join their committee. Too tired to
think, I just said “yes” and wandered home to break the news.
Now, our commitment to volunteering is to share the work of volunteers in the
pages of The Local. So Belated/Happy International Volunteer Day. Just sayin’…