To help inspire and celebrate the work of our many volunteers Judene Edgar speaks to three people who share their stories of hope and experiences in cultivating good.
Dave Prebble doesn’t really remember when he first started volunteering, but it goes hand-in-hand with his love of the bush, native plants, tramping, and all things outdoors. A volunteer for Brook Waimārama Sanctuary, Dave has been part of the track-cutting team for around 10 years, helping with track maintenance, pest monitoring, checking trapping lines, and supporting the Wasp Wipeout programme. But as well as being a volunteer himself, Dave has also helped recruit the next generation of volunteers, taking his sons Thomas and Nick with him. “We’ve always done stuff together as a family, so volunteering was just another thing,” he says. “After school, weekends and during the holidays I’d take the boys up the Brook with me, weeding old man’s beard.” His son Thomas has fond memories of weeding with his dad and brother as well as tree planting with Forest and Bird and helping with DOC’s Battle for the Bird pest control programme. And then, once he was old enough, Thomas joined the Brook Sanctuary as a volunteer himself, track building and pest monitoring. “It’s a pretty special place and such a good bunch of people to work with,” says Thomas. “It’s a good excuse to get outside, get a bit grubby, and do something positive at the same time.”
Thomas says that it’s cool to be involved in a project that is making such a significant long-term difference to the community and to the wildlife. He’s also impressed with the stamina of some of the volunteers, even if they do show him up! “It’s inspiring to see old dudes out-performing the young fit guys – it certainly puts you in your place a wee bit,” laughs Thomas. “It’s much better than going to a gym to keep fit!” Dave adds that despite it being pretty physical work, it’s a lot of fun, and “we always have a good chinwag and share a few jokes.” And while Dave spends full days with grubber, axe, and saw in hand clearing bush, hauling rocks and track-cutting, he says that there are plenty of different opportunities for people to join in for as little or as much time as they want.
And now the third generation of Prebble-men has started volunteering. Three-year-old Archie has joined his granddad Dave, uncle Thomas and dad Nick up at the Sanctuary a few times to help with skink and lizard surveying. You can find Dave up there most weeks, and despite currently living away from Nelson for work, Thomas still finds time to pop up to the Brook to volunteer whenever he’s back in the region and loves being able to create new family memories with Archie.
Every week for 30 years, Joan Dunbar has been turning up to Nelson Tasman Hospice to do volunteer work. It’s quiet, unassuming, behind-the-scenes work with little fanfare, but critical administration work that gives the nursing staff more time to spend with patients. But as she entered Hospice for her usual Wednesday shift on 3 March, she was welcomed by a rousing chorus of “For she’s a jolly good fellow” and presented with a gigantic bouquet of flowers. “I was totally surprised and a bit overcome, but it was very thoughtful,” blushes Joan. Normally Hospice celebrate their volunteers and recognise long-standing service with an annual garden party, but they weren’t able to hold it this year. However, Volunteer Programme Manager Krisca Gould says they couldn’t go without acknowledging Joan’s contribution. “She’s gifted an amazing amount of time to our community and we couldn’t even begin to thank her enough.”
Joan was a busy mother of five who did shift work as a telephone exchange operator from midnight to 6am so that she could be at home with her children. Once the children were older, she worked for Telecom before being made redundant. She decided to take the opportunity to “do something for the community.” She saw a Hospice advertisement seeking volunteers and having lost her sister to cancer, she decided to apply. “48 years ago when my sister died there wasn’t Hospice; but it’s such a wonderful service. And it’s not just about those in the building, they do a lot of work in the community supporting people in their own homes.”
A lot has changed over Joan’s 30 years – she started out working in an old villa on Waimea Road near the former nurses’ home, later shifting to the two-storey house on Tasman Street, and three years ago this month was delighted to move into their new premises on Suffolk Road. But she says the one constant is the number of wonderful people. “I’ve seen a lot of changes, but a lot of people stay for a long time because it’s so rewarding.”
Joan does a variety of administration jobs from photocopying to making up patient information packs for binding. “I don’t think people realise how many different volunteers there are, but they’re all appreciated as it all makes a difference.” While she says that she won’t be going for another 30 years, she’s just taking each week as it comes. “I never thought I’d be there for 30 years, but it’s amazing how time has flown by. I’ll just do it as long as I can.”
Shifting to Nelson with her husband and two young children for a sabbatical, Gabi could have been forgiven if she’d spent her time tramping, biking and enjoying Nelson’s quiet and relaxed lifestyle. Coming from Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city with a population of 13 million, Nelson has been quite a significant lifestyle change, but one which the family has relished. Due to Covid, their year-long sabbatical has turned into three and a half years, but she wasted no time giving back to her new hometown. A ceramic artist, she started volunteering for the Refinery ArtSpace, welcoming people to the gallery and helping with exhibitions. “It was a great way to be close to the arts and artists,” she says. “Nelson is so lucky to have such a contemporary, modern gallery.”
She’s also enjoying the connections that a small city provides, meeting new people through her volunteering at Cultural Conversations, helping with exhibitions and workshops. “Nelson is very small compared to Sao Paulo, but it’s amazing how it gathers people from all over the world and gives them opportunities to show their works.”
Used to the “crazy, wild” pace of Sao Paulo, Gabi’s version of a quiet life involves volunteering for multiple organisations in addition to being a mum to two children, a working artist (under the name Madame Lama), a teacher at Nelson Community Potters and having a stall at Nelson Market. “When I see all the struggles in the world and the poverty of others, I know I have to help, and it makes me happy to help.”
Through the Volunteer Nelson website, she found out about Days for Girls in Richmond. Days for Girls is part of an international movement sewing menstrual kits for women and girls enduring period poverty in developing countries. Being able to speak Spanish and English as well as her native Portuguese, she was also able to interpret for a group of Colombian women who were volunteering, sewing, ironing and cutting fabric. She also volunteers for Kai Rescue, collecting food from supermarkets and growers that is surplus or non-saleable that would otherwise go to waste, and redistributing it to around 60 community organisations that support individuals and families in need.
Last year she enjoyed volunteering for Red Cross supporting their Pathways to Settlement programme, working with a group of four volunteers helping a family of four former refugees from Myanmar arriving in Nelson. “It’s very important and meaningful work,” she says. “When you volunteer, what you do has to resonate with you and be meaningful to you.”
If you are interested in volunteering visit the Volunteer Expo on Saturday 25 June, between 10am-2pm at Annesbrook Community Church. This is a great opportunity for anyone thinking about volunteering to have a chat with representatives from community organisations.
