Jo McLaren started volunteering for Anglican Family Services when a fellow parishioner, and close friend, asked if she would like to come and help. The year was 1992 and the government had made major changes to welfare payments, the Anglican Church responded in part by establishing a food bank to help those in need. It started very small, with Jo collecting the food donations each Sunday from church, dividing them up into parcels and distributing them for two hours a week. The food bank has now grown in size and has a number of volunteers to sort and divide the food parcels.
When asked what had kept her as a volunteer for twenty years Jo said “The people are wonderful, and they include the volunteers like staff, they invite us to staff functions and are very supportive”. The food bank has seen an increase in demand, and recently Jo has seen more working families in need of assistance. Jo went on to talk about what she had enjoyed most about her time at Anglican Family Services “I have really enjoyed being part of something, it has kept me active and it’s good to do things for other people. My advice to other people is even if you have only a few hours a week, think about volunteering, it keeps you in touch”.
Jo shows no signs of stopping volunteering and is currently storing donated food at her home while the food bank moves premises. “I really wish they service well in their development, they really are all very caring people and well supported by the community”.
