SES volunteers’ dedication recognised

Each year the SESVA provides grants to units and scholarships to volunteers.

SESVA Executive Director Charlie Moir was at the evening and said that the variety of grants and scholarships are a way helping SES volunteers who give up their time for the organisation.

“State wide there is over $300,000 provided for the unit grants and scholarships,” he said.

“The scholarships are broken into different categories, they’re mainly tertiary but we also have a volunteer support scheme where we provide funding for people to do things like upgrading their licence.

“We try and look for things where the benefit is not only to the individual but to the service and/or the community.

“The unit grants are usually for something that the council or the SES can’t provide, things like volunteer comforts such as a fridge or a TV that the volunteers benefit from.”

SESVA Vice Chairman and Council Chairperson for Central Zone, Peter Lalor, said the organisation “is about trying to help the volunteers to help themselves help the community”.

“We’re a volunteer organisation, we’re not a union, and we look out for the welfare of the volunteers of the SES,” he said.

“The state is divided into three zones, this is the Central Zone that runs from Leichhardt in Sydney to the NSW border and we’ve probably got about three to four thousand SES volunteers in that area.

“And what we’re doing is recognising the work that a lot of these people have done through the awarding of grants and scholarships.”

Mr Lalor has been a volunteer with the SES for 43 years, since it was known as the Civil Defence, and added “I’ve seen a few changes in my time and we’re dedicated to always making it better”.

“Our motto is ‘volunteers supporting volunteers’,” he said.

The organisation raises the issues of SES volunteers to the commissioner and various people in government.