The Community Visitors Scheme

An Australian Government Initiative

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Lutheran Care CVS Volunteers Receive Premier’s Awards

Attending Lutheran Care’s Premier’s Certificate presentation in September were (back L-R) Carolyn Koch, Peter Rudiger, Annie Chambers, Sue Fackrell, Chris ‘Tigger’ Werner, Dawn Spencer, Rohan Feegrade, (front L-R) Yvonne Gaca, Julia Borgas, Penny Pfitzner and Sonja Williams.

Lutheran Care celebrated the outstanding service of six Community Visitors Scheme volunteers in September, who were successful in receiving Premier’s Certificates of Recognition earlier this year.

Together Sue Fackrell, Penny Pfitzner, Peter Rudiger, Dawn Spencer, Yvonne Gaca and Chris ‘Tigger’ Werner have a combined 115 years’ service in Lutheran Care’s Community Visitors Scheme program.

Over the years, each volunteer has brought significant joy, friendship and comfort to those they have visited.

Guests who attended the awards presentation heard some amazing stories from the volunteers, who were all very humble in receiving their certificates from Lutheran Care CEO Rohan Feegrade.

Mr Feegrade thanked the group for their extraordinary service and the impact they have had in reducing social isolation.

“Coming to these events really gives us the opportunity to reflect on what Lutheran Care really stands for and the work we do in communities,” Mr Feegrade said.

“Today we’ve talked about one part of life and Lutheran Care do the full spectrum of life. We are in people’s life from birth, right through to the stories we’ve heard today of last breath.

“Take great pride in that you are a part of something that is very big in terms of what we give to community. You are impacting people’s lives so deeply by just simply being a part of Lutheran Care.”

One of those volunteers is Dawn Spencer, who is 93 years old and in her 15th year of CVS volunteering. She has embraced change along the way and is happy to serve in any way she can.

“I’m an oldie,” Dawn joked. “But volunteering is worth it,” she said.

On accepting her certificate, Sue Fackrell said there were many benefits to being a volunteer with the Community Visitors Scheme.

“There have been so many wonderful people that I have learnt so much from,” Sue said.

“They’ve had so much life experience and I think it’s been a really heart-warming journey for me to be involved with so many different people along the way. I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Yvonne Gaca shared a similar sentiment when speaking. “I thoroughly enjoy what I’m doing, especially the nursing home that I go to now,” Yvonne said.

“I just have so much fun. If I can leave there and have had someone to laugh with, that’s great.”

The volunteers, including longstanding volunteer Julia Borgas, also received individual videos put together by Michaela Andreyev of the Story Keeper as a keepsake.

Lutheran Care is so grateful and blessed to have had these volunteers involved with the Community Visitors Scheme for so long and appreciates all they have done in their local South Australian communities.

Get to Know CVS Coordinator Lange Powell

Lange Powell is the Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) Coordinator at St Jude’s Anglican Church in Brighton, South Australia, and one of the team working with the Lutheran Care-led group to promote the CVS across the state.

Born and raised in Brighton, England, Lange has a rich resume of public service, in senior human services roles in the South Australian Government including as a Commissioner for the Ageing; volunteering around the world; and as a former public member of the Australian Press Council.

Get to know Lange and his role in the CVS a little more here:

How long have you been the CVS Coordinator at St Jude’s Anglican Church? How did you come into the role?

I took on the CVS Co-ordinator position in 2014, at the invitation of the parish priest at the time, Rev’d Chris McLeod.

For me it was an ideal opportunity after retiring from career employment. It opened an avenue for maintaining my interest in aged care and in the quality of life of older people; it built on my past experience in volunteering; and it offered flexibility and plenty of creative freedom in developing and managing the Scheme.

St Jude’s was one of the first local agencies to host the Community Visitors Scheme after it was launched by the Australian Government in 1991, and several of our volunteers have been with us for many years.  It’s a rewarding and very people-focussed activity, and the modest scale on which we operate (we have just over 20 active volunteers), means that we can maintain that ‘personal touch’.

Have you been a volunteer for this and other programs? I read that you volunteered in Madagascar for several years. Please tell me about that that what draws you to volunteering.

My volunteering started after I left university.  I spent a couple of years teaching in a country school in Madagascar, with a British overseas aid agency similar to Australian Volunteers Abroad.

Volunteering has always been important to me – partly for the ‘opportunity to contribute to the community’ which most volunteers talk about as a primary motivation.  But at least as much for the interest and new perspectives it gives to me.  For example, the 19 years I spent as a member of the Australian Press Council introduced me to a whole world of newspapers, editors, journalists, and the vast range of people from all walks of life who engage with them.  It was a wonderful and enriching experience that my professional life alone would never have been able to provide.

The principle that volunteering with the Community Visitors Scheme should be as rewarding for the volunteer as for the older people they visit and befriend, is one which I emphasise to everyone who applies to join our Scheme.  I think it’s very important – like in any friendship, the growth of trust, warmth, stimulating conversation or activity, and even (sometimes), a degree of emotional intimacy needs to be mutual for the relationship to thrive.  I hope our volunteers feel that way about their commitment.

Please share a little about your background, such as your career in the public sector and around social services, and as Commissioner for Ageing in South Australia.

After the time I spent in Madagascar, I kept travelling to visit my father’s family in Australia, and have stayed ever since! My working life in Australia career started with several years in an Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land (NT); and since then I’ve kept an interest in Aboriginal communities in traditional, regional and urban settings.

Moving to South Australia in 1975, my work has been in a range of human services - child and family welfare, public housing, Disability Services, and adult Correctional Services, both community-based and prisons.

From 1990-1995, I was the second SA Commissioner for the Ageing.  The role was to advise the State Government on issues affecting older people, other than those which were the responsibility of the Australian Government (pensions and aged care, for example).  As such, it covered a wide range of interests and concerns – housing options, transport, health services, age discrimination, elder protection, consumer protection, multicultural dimensions of aged services, and many other issues.

And volunteer opportunities for older people!  Most retirees want to remain active in their community, and encouraging organisations like Volunteering SA Inc (later to become Volunteering SA & NT), to develop programs and opportunities for older volunteers was one of the proposals we pursued.  The relevance of this initiative is still very much in evidence today; half of the volunteers with St Jude’s CVS for example, are aged over 60, and it’s great to have such a mix of volunteers with varied and colourful life experiences.

What are your personal interests?

When we retired, I and my wife, Inara (also with a long career in human services), decided to branch out of the professional fields where we’d been for many years.  We did a lot of remote outback travel, but after a few years thought it’d be rewarding to get to know an area of outback country more intimately than extensive 4WD trips allow.

So we became active volunteers with Nature Foundation (https://www.naturefoundation.org.au/), a not-for-profit organisation that invests in conserving, restoring and protecting SA’s landscapes, flora and fauna.  Among several other programs, the Foundation operates two large Nature Reserves (Witchelina, in the Far North of SA; and Hiltaba in the Far West).  We are part of a team that goes and manages the Reserves for a week or two at a time, in total for around eight weeks in any year.  We’ve been particularly active in encouraging visitors to the Reserves – laying out self-drive tours, writing interpretive materials etc.

What is the one thing you would like people to know about Community Visitors Scheme?

I hope different people will take away different message about the CVS, according to their needs and preferences.  The recent Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, for example, found that there was limited awareness among older people and their families about the Scheme, suggesting that more effort could be put into promoting it to the people whose quality of life might be enhanced by receiving regular visits.

For prospective volunteers, I would emphasise the mutual rewards that CVS visiting can generate.  Like any friendship, it can require commitment and, sometimes, patience – but the overall experience is usually enriching for both parties.

And finally, I’d like to emphasise that CVS volunteering can be for everyone!  Warmth, good listening ability, and an interest in people – these are the personal qualities we look for. Age, work background, education are not important – and nor is a volunteer’s culture.  St Jude’s CVS has volunteers from half a dozen different countries, and I think the Scheme can be proud of its capacity to welcome such diversity.

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Get to Know Community Visitors Scheme Volunteer Coordinator Annie Chambers

Annie 2

Annie Chambers is a volunteer at heart.  She lives and breathes it, her laugh punctuating conversations and warmth and humility radiating. Annie coordinates Barossa volunteers in the Community Visitors Scheme for Lutheran Care, a social justice organisation providing community support programs and outreach centres for people in need.

She started volunteering in much the same way as many people, through church, Sunday school teaching and youth groups. Her parents too were avid volunteers, always involved in a committee or group of some sort.

But Annie’s shift from volunteering at Lutheran Care in 2005 (then known as Lutheran Community Care) to a regular, paid job in 2009 was more self-motivated.

“I wanted to make some money to throw my son a 21st birthday party. My husband and I ran a small business and while we got by, we didn’t have that little bit left for the extras.”

When a job for a Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) worker came up, Annie was encouraged to apply but didn’t think she had the skills to meet the job description. “I never thought I’d get it. I fumbled and mumbled my way through the interview and spilt water all over the papers.” But Annie did land the job and the rest is history.

She and two other coordinators manage 77+ volunteers in the Community Visitors Scheme, which matches suitable volunteers to visit older people at home or in residential care to prevent them feeling alone or isolated. The scheme is funded by the Australian Government and LC is leading a group of eight CVS programs to promote CVS and attract even more volunteers to help.

Annie said people who receive visits value them more than you can imagine: “We have people saying your visits are better than medication for me, or you’ve saved my life. That’s when you know volunteering has really made a big difference.”

“Often people just want to talk. They just want to know someone can sit there and hear them and tell them what’s happening in the community,” and that’s how CVS can help, said Annie.

“I am really amazed at what my volunteers do, they give up their time, they go to see people and they bring some joy to their lives. And it’s two-fold, both parties get something out of it.”

Compassion, love, kindness and patience – they’re some of the ingredients that Annie says make a great volunteer. “They really do show god’s love,” she said,

While Annie has always volunteered in some way, she said there have been some big chunks where that’s what she has focussed on. She and her husband Dean, a baker by trade, decided in their first year of marriage to do a year of volunteering in Victoria. Many newlyweds would be working hard, saving money for a house and family, but Annie and Dean ‘worked 20 hours a week and volunteered 20 hours a week, so it didn’t cost anyone anything.

“There have been times when we’ve thought ‘wow, what we could have done if we didn’t give up a year’ but it was a wonderful experience.” Said Annie

In 2000 she and Dean did a volunteer trip to the Ukraine; Annie was a Christian clown, dressing as a clown and using mime to spread god’s love. But Annie’s lifelong dream was to visit Africa and help feed African children; giving donations to large organisations didn’t satisfy her urge to help, so she searched for ways she could get hands on.

“When my husband turned 50 he got a motorbike. When I turned 50, we went to Africa.”

Annie met a woman in Adelaide whose husband was from Ghana. He had recently bought a piece of land there and was looking for help to build a shelter – which was just the opportunity Annie, and her family, wanted. A shipping container was packed with tools and building materials, many of them donated, and in 2016 off to Ghana they went.

“I think ‘things’ don’t matter that much to me. It’s about relationships – life is about relationships. I don’t need much to make me happy. I have a wonderful husband, great kids, great grandkids, wonderful friends. I don’t need more than that,” said Annie

While it hasn’t been a typical life, she said she’s thrilled she has been able to give her family experiences. Her son, a plumber, went to Ghana to help plumb the new building and her daughter asked them to wait for her to finish teaching studies so she could go too.

“What I’ve done is quite little compared to what others do but I’ve had some amazing experiences.”

Now Annie’s passion is supporting teams of volunteers in their regular visits to older people, through her job at Lutheran Care. There are never enough volunteers or funds for all the needs in the community and Annie said she dreams of the day when programs can be developed simply because there is a need, not because there is government funding.

Lutheran Care has its foundations in volunteering; it was started because a group of volunteer women got together and wanted to start helping. The organisation marked its 50-year anniversary in 2020, and now has more than 450 volunteers working across its programs, including helping prepare annual Christmas hampers, in the Elcies opportunity shops, the CVS program, emergency relief and financial counselling, administration and so much more.

Lutheran Care supports volunteers very well, said Annie, and most importantly they know it makes a difference in people’s lives. They believe in what volunteers do, she said.

I believe you can really make a difference in someone’s life and I think that’s what has kept me there. I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.” said Annie.