Today begins National Volunteering Week 2023.  As part of our celebrations, we are sharing a selection of volunteer stories which highlight the power of volunteering in strengthening and connecting communities. 

We start the week with Neville Graver who tells us how his volunteering has enabled him to have a meaningful role in the development and enhancement of the community around him.

I retired in 2009 and looking for something to keep my mind active joined an environmental group set up to prevent plans to build an incinerator close to the village that I have now lived in for over 40 years.

Through this experience, I started to realise the value of supporting the wider community and the need to protect the environment. I am pleased to say that we defeated the application, and a similar group I got involved in 5 years ago has now saved beautiful woodlands.

In 2010, I also joined Rathcoole Community Council as a volunteer director and 2 years later, the Four Districts Day Care Centre for the Elderly. In this role, I was able to obtain charity status for the Centre and help raise funds to keep it going. My time with the organisation made me realize how important it is to support the vulnerable and how as volunteers we can make a lasting impact.

Volunteering is part of my life every day, and I hope and plan to continue to do more in my local community.