Honouring volunteers
After retiring from his teaching career, Trevor Norton signed up to keep doing what he loves as a volunteer. He is among 17,300 Knox residents who volunteer and was last year recognised in the Knox Community Awards for Outstanding Volunteer Service.
Council is now calling for entries in this year’s awards, which recognise and celebrate the valuable contribution volunteers make to our community.
Trevor says he was humbled to receive the honour.
“There are so many people doing these sorts of ‘jobs’ who go unrecognised or spend so much time doing things that fly under the radar,” he says.
The volunteer tutor with the Melbourne Adult Migrant English Program says he gets just as much out of volunteering as the migrants and refugees who are improving their English language skills.
“I’d worked in China for quite a while and was learning Mandarin myself,” Trevor says. “I’d always been interested in language and helping other people so this was quite interesting to see how well I could manage to increase people’s English.
“It tests your own ability to meet challenges that come across the way, like how best to deliver something that they can understand but is not too difficult.
“It’s very interesting because you get involved in their lives to some degree. Like this Tibetan couple, their daughter was getting married and they asked me if I’d like to go to the wedding. Well, it was amazing for me to experience first-hand Tibetan culture with the marriage ceremony, the dancing and colourful traditional costumes.
“Another student was Iranian and he was a qualified architect but his visa wouldn’t allow him to work as an architect. So, he had to sit for another test and he wanted some help. We got to know the whole family and we went for a meal at their home.”
For over 20 years, Trevor has also volunteered with Council’s Meals on the Wheels service supporting senior residents to live independently at home.
“Just to see different people in their houses and have conversations with them about things that interest them is rewarding,” he says.
Volunteers like Trevor whose efforts in the community deserve recognition can be nominated in 2025.
Nominations are being invited in the categories of Knox Volunteer of the Year, Knox Community Organisation of the Year, Outstanding Volunteer Service, and Recognition of Years of Service.
Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony during National Volunteer Week, Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteering, to be held from 19-25 May.
Knox has 17,300 people aged 15+ who volunteered through an organisation or group in the past year, the most recent Census data shows. This is 13.1% of residents aged 15+ and higher than the proportion for Greater Melbourne overall (12.1%).
Do you know a volunteer doing amazing things in Knox? Nominate them in the Knox Community Awards by 28 March. Find out more on our Knox Community Awards webpage.
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