With the storm season underway, the NSW SES has unveiled new opportunities for Eurobodalla residents to volunteer to help build greater community resilience in severe weather.
The new initiative, ‘Volunteering Reimagined’, has been launched and allows more flexibility as well as different options for people to get involved with the Service.
NSW SES Moruya Unit Controller Jeff McMahon said this new program taps into the wide range of skills within the local community.
“The purpose of ‘Volunteering Reimagined’ is to broaden the capability of the NSW SES in the Eurobodalla and provide more opportunities for people to join us. More people are wanting to help their communities but often feel they can’t because they are time-poor or believe they do not have the physical capabilities to do some of the emergency tasks that the NSW SES often responds to,” Mr McMahon said.
“As part of this new initiative we have introduced three new categories of volunteering in addition to our existing Unit members. These new categories of volunteers include Community Action Team (CAT) members, corporate volunteers and spontaneous volunteers,” Mr McMahon said. “CAT members will be a group of people or individuals who join a designated Community Action Team and can be tied to a geographical area or a specific functional role.
“Spontaneous volunteers will be those individuals who provide assistance to the NSW SES in a temporary way, usually in response to large disasters, while corporate volunteers will be employees of companies that have partnered with our organisation and the employer will provide volunteer leave for their workers to contribute to the NSW SES,” Mr McMahon explained.
“We’ve also made changes to our existing volunteer membership policies to allow greater flexibility in how these members volunteer their time with us.”
“So it doesn’t matter whether you have a few hours or a few days to spare each year, you can get involved with the NSW SES and you don’t necessarily have to be out in the elements battling Mother Nature,” he added. “Whether you’re doing those front line roles or providing assistance in a supporting role like managing logistics or finances, intelligence gathering, media liaison or community engagement, there is a place for you with the NSW SES.”
“With the storm season upon us, there has never been a better time to volunteer with the NSW SES. Whatever your background, location and skill-set, there is a place for you to join us,” he concluded.
Moruya SES visited Potato Point to introduce Community Action Teams(CATs) a flexible volunteering arrangement whereby volunteers are invited to form a communication link between a particular community and the Moruya SES Unit. NSW SES is responsible for helping people affected by storms, floods and tsunamis, as well as assisting police in rescues, searches for missing persons etc. The Moruya Unit has 30 members and covers an area from Mogo to Akolele.CAT members would be part of the SES but need minimal training and need not attend regular Unit meetings. They would wear SES identification that is different from core SES and would provide information to the Moruya Unit on the local effects of storms and floods and may make early contact with people who sought assistance by phoning 132500. They may also be asked to give priority details on particular jobs.The SES needs to ensure that members of the public are treated with respect and confidence so wil lneed to interview prospective CAT members before acceptance. Go to the Moruya SES Facebook page to see who they are and what they do. Go to https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/get-involved/volunteer/community-action-team/ if interested or go to the NSW SES site www.ses.nsw.gov.au , click volunteer then Community Action Team.
For more information about volunteering with the NSW SES visit: www.ses.nsw.gov.au
