A 30-year celebration

Julie Dawkins has been a volunteer for PSO for an incredible 30 years and she has no plans for stopping any time soon!

Julie is a Visiting Volunteer and each week she visits an older person in their own home. The programme aims to connect people who would otherwise be quite socially isolated and possibly lonely, with a visiting volunteer.

It started when Julie was looking for a voluntary role, something that would make a difference to someone’s life. “I contacted a volunteer agency and they knew that PSO were looking for volunteers,” says Julie.

While the Visiting Volunteer role was new to Julie, she quickly settled in and now takes great delight in sharing her time with older people.

“I’ve regularly visited about 13 older people over the 30 years, one at a time, for about an hour or so once a week.”

For the older person, Julie knows that her visits are valued and welcomed.

“I enjoy it and it’s nice to visit people who have a lot less social contact because they can’t really get out of the house.”

“Being there for them and keeping them company are the main reasons I do this. We might listen to music, and we’ll chat about anything and everything, anything they want to talk about.”

Julie is a truly committed volunteer, also giving her time to work in two op shops (St Vincent de Paul and Inspire), Pregnancy Counselling and Friend-Link (supporting people with intellectual/learning disabilities).

If you would like to find out more about becoming a PSO volunteer, there are many opportunities. Visit our volunteering pages or contact our volunteer coordinator, Jasmin, on 027 700 1550.

To all of our volunteers making a difference, thank you!

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