Power to make change through volunteering
Power to make change through volunteering
Val Power is warm, kind and a great conversationalist, she has the gift the gab and is determined to use it to help others and for the greater good.
Val has been a volunteer with Anglicare’s Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) in Toowoomba for the last two years after responding to an advertisement on our Facebook page.
She is one of 63 CVS volunteers in the Toowoomba region and takes her role seriously.
Val visits her client once a week at an aged care home and spends the whole morning with her.
Her client is an elderly woman with a disability who previously lived in South Africa, but moved to Toowoomba to be closer to her family. The pair bonded over their love for flowers and similar life experiences.
“She is such a beautiful person and we connected because our lives ran parallel – we’ve had almost the same life experiences so I found it really easy to strike up a trusting friendship with her,” Val said.
“Whenever I take her flowers, she would always tell me that she grew them at home and I realised that we have so many flowers here in Toowoomba that she grew in the region she lived in in South Africa.”
Val’s career has seen her have a variety of occupations but the two that stood out for her was being a cook at an aged care facility and being a Lifeline Telephone Counsellor for more than 20 years.
“They just broadened my whole horizon on the human condition because I am not a judgemental person but I can accept everybody where they’re at,” she said.
“People say I like to make excuses for people but that is what I like to do because each one of us can be in the same position as each one of them.
“I also learnt that counselling from a very good counsellor is very beneficial.”
Volunteering for a kinder world
Val believes volunteering builds empathy and the world could do with a whole lot more of it, especially now.
“I would encourage everyone to do some volunteering if they possibly can because first of all it is rewarding and the special connection that you make with people,” she said.
“All of our life experience comes from the people we have encountered along the way. If you decide to learn from your experiences whether they are good or bad you will be able to help other people.
“I have a lot of life experience and if I can make another person’s life a little bit happier and having empathy from the experiences, I have gained throughout my life.”
Val said her experience with Anglicare has been very good, through the leadership and support provided by Toowoomba CVS Coordinator Jennifer Hoy, and her team who have been very accommodating to the needs of the volunteers.
Find out more about volunteering with Anglicare here.
