In celebration of National Volunteer Week, we are recognising a few of our outstanding volunteers who go above and beyond for their home towns.
Donna Greaves and Helen Sefton are a dynamic duo down at Boronia Fire Brigade who works tirelessly to support their local community.
Not only are they President and Vice President of the Auxiliary committee but also assist other agencies that help and heal.
Both Donna and Helen joined the Auxiliary around 5 years ago when their partners who are volunteers at Boronia suggested they come down and see what CFA is all about.
The Boronia Auxiliary committee provide support to the brigade by organising annual dinners, Christmas parties and most recently the 75 year celebration.
“The Boronia brigade is quite blessed to be in the position to fundraise for other organisations,” Donna said.
“We have helped raise funds for breast cancer Australia, and we recently held a handbag and sanitary items drive for homeless women where we collected over 134 handbags.”
“We aim to extend friendships and embrace the community,” Helen said.
“We recently donated over 6 tonnes of food to the farmers affected by the dairy crisis in the lead up to Christmas last year.
The duo are great team mates and even better friends, both admitting that they are constantly inspired by each other.
As well as their hard work in the CFA community the pair is kept busy with a variety of roles in other organisations.
Donna has been with the Red Cross for almost 7 years and currently holds the role of Deputy Divisional Operations Office for the Outer East Region.
“We assist families when there has been a house fire, we take them shopping for food, clothes and offer comfort as well as supporting local councils in a bigger fire / flood situation,” she said.
“We also aim to raise awareness about the Red Cross in the community.”
Helen, on the other hand, works as an emergency nurse with St John’s Ambulance and was one of the founding members of the medical assistance team.
“My role is State Officer Nursing, I credential the Nurses within St John's giving them a skill range to work within and ensuring patients receive the best care available in the pre hospital environment,” she said.
“Even after 25 years, I still absolutely love it.”
Donna and Helen are great assets to the CFA family and they are just two of our amazing members who wear many hats to better our local communities.
Author: CFA Media