Winners: Greg Laurie, Erin Foster, Robyn Lucus, Julia Butler, Joe Park and Catherine Weymss all attended the awards ceremony together. Photo: Supplied
Five members of the Rochester Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Community Transport team travelled to Government House in Melbourne last month to attend the Victorian Volunteering Awards.
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The program nominated was one in partnership with Rochester and Elmore District Health Service (REDHS).
The RFDS team was nominated in 2023 for the Volunteering Partnerships Award. It was informed in late 2023 that it had succeeded as one of six finalists.
Greg Laurie, Erin Foster, Robyn Lucus, Julia Butler and Catherine Weymss, who attended the event, make up a team of 13 people who volunteer their time each week as volunteer drivers.
The program co-ordinator Joe Park said seeing the group of volunteers there was a special moment.
Transport team: Greg Laurie, Robyn Lucus, Julia Butler and Catherine Weymss are all volunteer drivers with RFDS. Photo: Supplied
“They were among finalists from a pool of 400 nominations, and it was just really satisfying to see them there,” he said.
"It was especially great to see regional areas that have been through some challenging times, such as Rochester, get recognised. Their resilience and getting in and having a go attitude were acknowledged, and that’s great.”
Since its inception in 2018, the program has completed over 27,000 transports for more than 1200 clients, travelling more than 770,000 km.
Special guests: The RFDS volunteers got to go to Government House where they had the awards ceremony. They were among finalists from a pool of about 400 nominees. Photo: Supplied
Mr Park said the volunteers really appreciated attending the awards.
"They enjoyed listening to the awards being read out and hearing from some of the award winners and the stories of some of the other nominees,” he said.
“They got a real sense of the amazing achievement they as a team had reached in being nominated and being a finalist.”
