Celebrating Ipswich’s most hardworking volunteers this National Volunteer Week
It’s time to show our appreciation for all our volunteers’ tireless work for the community. See our list of Ipswich’s most hardworking volunteers.
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This Volunteer Week, Ipswich locals are celebrating the selfless individuals who put their community first.
From the little roles that make a not-so-little difference, to the heroes who put their lives on the line, Volunteer Week is an opportunity to give thanks to each and every unsung member of the community that volunteers their time for the community.
“National Volunteer Week celebrates all volunteers who make Ipswich a great place to live, from the incredible ‘Mud Army’ that helped in recovery from our recent flood to carers and support workers helping those in need on a daily basis,” said Ipswich City Councillor Andrew Fechner Division 3 said.
He encouraged those interested in volunteering to seek opportunities to get involved through the Ipswich City Council’s Volunteer Portal.
National Volunteer Week will conclude with the Queensland Volunteering Awards on Friday, May 20 at Brisbane City Hall, and some of our homegrown Ipswich volunteers have been put forward for the honour this year.
See our list of Ipswich’s most hardworking and selfless volunteers.
Gary Adams
Gary Adams has volunteered with Samaritan’s Purse for many years.
An ex-bank manager, Mr Adams has taken on a Site Leadership Team role during disasters, and provided aid with the Goodna team during the February floods this year.
He and his wife Margaret have shared duties since the mid-2010s including assessing homes, organising teams of labourers, sourcing and replenishing tools and supplies, and office administration.
His volunteer deployments include the Townsville floods 2019, Bunyip fires 2019, Taree fires 2019, Batemans Bay fires 2020, Windsor floods 2021, Ipswich floods 2022 and the Lismore floods 2022.
Maranda Aiavao
Maranda Aiavao works tirelessly as Deputy Group Leader of the State Emergency Service (SES) Goodna Group.
She enjoys that her leadership role allows her to be a part of so many other volunteers’ journeys.
“It is an empowering feeling knowing your capabilities and using that to challenge yourself and give back to our community that has already faced so many challenges,” said Mrs Aiavao.
She said volunteering has given her the opportunity to learn skills and gain qualifications she says she wouldn’t have under paid employment.
“We would not want to be paid to do what we do with the SES as our volunteer capacity is fuelled by passion for wanting to help others,” she said.
“SES is all about camaraderie, knowledge sharing and building resilience to support each other and our communities. It sounds cliche, but my Unit is my second home and family.”
David Berlin
David Berlin has been volunteering for Ipswich Assist for over eight years.
He regularly volunteers 30-40 hours a week in various roles – from picking up food in his own ute, to mowing to packing food hampers for people who are desperate for food.
“He is really one of the unsung heroes of Ipswich,” said Jason Budden, Ipswich Assist’s Program Manager.
A registered charity of Central Church Ipswich, Ipswich Assist provides relief to struggling members of the community.
Miriam Chapman
Ms Chapman’s first deployment with Samaritan’s Purse was with the Goodna team during the Ipswich floods earlier this year.
With a background in nursing, Ms Chapman has since gone on to volunteer in Lismore.
She has assisted with removing waterlogged debris, damaged walls, floors and ceilings, removal of nails, adhesive and screws, then pressure-spraying and sanitising frames to prepare them for rebuilding.
She is “a cheerful and ever-willing volunteer labourer,” said Daniel Goh, Samaritan’s Purse Marketing and Communications Coordinator.
David Clarke
First Officer for Mount Forbes Rural Fire Service David Clarke said volunteering is a family tradition.
“Many years ago, I helped my grandfather on school holidays cart water to the fire trucks in the Laidley area,” Mr Clarke said.
His mother Kerri is the Chairperson for the brigade and an Operational Firefighter, his brother Allan is Fourth Officer, and his fiance Stacy is and Advanced Firefighter who also assists in Incident Management.
“The benefit of volunteering as a family is the understanding of what it is like sitting down for dinner and being called out to an emergency,” he said.
“They know the emotions that can occur and because of this we all have a very tight-knit relationship with each other.”
Anthony Edwards
Anthony Edwards founded the Garden of Eden Project Ipswich after seeing the weeds along the Bremer River when shopping at Riverlink Shopping Centre.
His group at Cribb Park have been restoring the patch near the dog park and boat ramp for five years now.
“Over this time, we have removed weeds and nonsense grasses that do not allow native plants to grow and replaced them with thriving grasslands and flowering plants that attract plenty of birds,” said Mr Edwards.
What started as a small vision has developed into a larger plan to improve Ipswich’s flood resilience.
“The areas where we have replanted survived and kept the riverbank together during the recent flood. It is incredible that the riverbank remained stable and flood waters have not caused erosion,” he said.
Anne-Maria Falvey
Anne-Maria has volunteered for the Ipswich Hospital for the past 10 years.
Posted at the meet and greet desk, Ms Falvey has the essential role of being a welcoming face to patients and visitors.
She volunteers at Rosies Friends in her spare time, driving to collect end-of-day goods from Ipswich stores for Rosies Friends to distribute.
She also volunteers as an outreach home visitor for St Vincent de Paul Society Ipswich and serves coffee at St Paul’s Anglican Church on Wednesday mornings.
On top of all of her other volunteering commitments, she volunteered at the local flood evacuation centre to provide social support and connect displaced people with relevant services.
The Ipswich Hospital Foundation said she is a “tireless volunteer who cares about everyone she meets.”
They nominated Ms Falvey for Volunteering Queensland’s Volunteer of the Year award, and she has been announced as a finalist.
Jessica Hernandez
Jessica Hernandez’s passion for volunteering started as a young child.
She has volunteered for Scouts Queensland for 14 years and been a leader at multiple scout groups.
Ms Hernandez has also volunteered with the special-needs Nursery Road Scout Group.
On top of her Scouts responsibilities, she volunteered for the Red Cross outreach program during COVID-19, making welfare calls to individuals at risk of social isolation.
Ms Hernandez has also volunteered as a youth leader for Lutheran Youth Queensland and at multiple events including CMC Rocks, the Ipswich Show, and as an events convener for her college.
Tracey Holt
From a young age to her eventual passing in 2021, Tracey Holt dedicated her life to volunteering.
She started volunteering at age 10 with South’s rugby club in Ipswich and continued to volunteer for the next 50 years.
Ms Holt believed that sport had the power to heal, reconcile and support people at risk.
Her achievements include long standing board positions, roles in softball associations across Southeast Queensland, and a key role in designing governance structures, strategic and operational plans and implementing volunteering programs.
She played softball up to the age of 60, coached Olympic and world series players, and received a SQI Diamond award from Queensland Softball.
Ms Holt also volunteered in other sports, employment, training, and Indigenous programs.
She battled lung cancer from 2019 to 2021, during which she founded a local softball club and continued playing and coaching softball.
She is nominated for the Queensland Volunteering Awards this year, and is remembered by many as a supportive and inspiring individual.
Rita Langer
This year is 86-year-old Rita Langer’s 50th year volunteering at the Blair State School tuckshop.
Blair State School is where her Rugby star son Allan Langer attended.
Their tuckshop is decorated with newspaper clippings of Rita’s achievements, and she even has her own ‘Legend’s Chair.’
In 2015, Blair State School honoured Ms Langer’s dedication by naming their new school hall the ‘Rita Langer Hall’ – to match their ‘Allan Langer Oval.’
Ms Langer has also volunteered with Meals On Wheels and Norths Rugby League Club canteen.
Jacqui Martin
Mrs Martin founded Lisa’s Lunches in 2018 in honour of her close friend Lisa Heuston, who passed away due to cancer at the Ipswich Hospital in 2017.
Lisa’s Lunches provides prepacked lunches to families whose lives have been affected by cancer.
“We started the organisation to try and relieve some of the everyday stresses for families going through a similar thing,” she said.
To date, Lisa’s Lunches has given out approximately 23,000 lunch packs to affected families.
“We give enough of those packs to a family to last them for a term,” said Mrs Martin.
Mrs Martin often speaks to young people about volunteering opportunities in the community – most recently to immigrant students at Inala TAFE.
“There’s literally been hundreds and hundreds of people that have helped over the years – businesses, organisations, schools, community groups, individuals … Anyone can do it from [age] teo to 90, because there’s something for everyone.”
Lisa’s Lunches recently incorporated and Mrs Martin is working towards officially becoming a charitable organisation within the next few months.
Aileen Pickwell
“Still going strong” in her 80s, Aileen Pickwell has been volunteering for Ipswich Assist for eight years now.
She regularly spends all day Tuesday and Thursday volunteering for Ipswich Assist.
Program Manager Mr Budden said Ms Pickwell volunteers because she “loves being apart of our community.”
She aids the charity by packing and give out food and hampers to people in need.
Wayne Ritchings
Mr Ritchings is a cabinet-maker who has volunteered with Samaritan’s Purse on several deployments since the mid 2010s.
He provided assistance with the Goodna team during Ipswich’s February floods this year.
Mr Ritchings provides aid as a Program Manager, overseeing the Site Leader Teams, co-ordination of churches to be used as home-bases, and co-ordinating with local council and relief agencies.
His volunteer deployments include the Rappville fires 2019, Townsville floods 2019, Bunyip fires, 2019, Taree fires 2019, Bairnsdale fires 2020, North Haven floods 2021, Ipswich floods 2022 and Lismore floods 2022.
Paulien Robinson
Augustine Heights resident Paulien Robinson has volunteered with Mater Springfield Hospital since 2019.
Her role involves delivering hand and foot massages to patients in the Cancer Care Centre.
“If I can make someone’s day a little better that means a lot to me,” she said.
This is Ms Robinson’s first volunteering experience, and she said it was particularly important to her because she knows the difficulties of being in hospital first-hand.
She said her volunteering experiences have emphasised how important it is for people to donate their time if they can.
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