Volunteering means giving to the community for Ken

“Every day I know that I have helped someone, just by being there, they know that someone cares.”

A volunteer with Intereach Community Transport for nearly five years, Ken regularly drives local people at a stressful time in their lives.

“Often when people need to use community transport they might be having health problems, so they can feel worried or stressed. It makes a huge difference to have someone there with them, a friendly face. Even if five minutes before they were a stranger to me, by being willing to listen I’ve allowed people to get things off their chest that may have been playing over and over in their mind.”

 Intereach Community Transport provides transport for older people, transport disadvantaged and Department of Veterans Affairs support recipients, for shopping, appointments and social outings. The service transports around 110 people a week in the Deniliquin area and is completely reliant on volunteer drivers like Ken.

Becoming a volunteer was a natural choice for Ken. “I’ve always liked to keep busy, I’ve always worked and not only does volunteering keep me busy, it means I’m never bored! I don’t think it’s good for people to have nothing to do. I think when you’re bored you can focus more on the little niggles in life, the aches and pains or the things that might bother you, but when you’re volunteering you just don’t have the time!”

And evidence suggests that volunteering is actually good for the volunteers themselves too! On top of the good feelings volunteers get from helping people, they seem to live longer and enjoy better overall health.

“Well that’s good news!” Ken said.