26/05/2026
From the 18th to 24th of May every year, we celebrate National Volunteer Week (Yes, we're late),
This year’s theme is “Your Year to Volunteer” — but what does it really mean in today’s world to volunteer?
The short answer is: it’s different for everybody.
But at its core, volunteering is built on sacrifice, commitment, and dedication to a cause bigger than yourself.
A good portion of our crew volunteer their time outside of work. some in state fire brigades, others in motorsport, sporting clubs, and community organisations.
Let’s look at one of the biggest examples amongst our team: volunteer firefighters.
Volunteer firefighters are expected to uphold a standard of safety, commitment, and responsibility within the community. They become trusted faces, people anyone can run to when there’s a problem. Around the world, the uniform represents trust; the understanding that the person wearing it is there to help others and give back.
They respond to fires, floods, motor vehicle accidents, hazardous spills, rescues, and countless other incidents. In many ways, the fire brigade becomes the ultimate multi-tool. When nobody can find a solution, the answer usually becomes: “Call the fire brigade.”
Most volunteer firefighters do it for the love of the community, the desire to help others, and the opportunity to learn something new.
But let’s focus on what volunteering actually looks like for the average firefighter at their local brigade.
Usually, it starts with weekly training, a few hours on a Monday or Tuesday evening. Drills, equipment checks, learning new skills, maintaining qualifications. Then it’s home again, back to work or normal life.
But the pager is always sitting somewhere in the back of your mind.
“Where are my socks?”, “Where are my car keys?”, “Do I have enough fuel if a job comes in tonight?”
Then suddenly usually at the most inconvenient time imaginable the pager activates.
Maybe you’re in the shower.
Maybe you’re on the loo.
Maybe you’re driving home from work.
Maybe you’ve just climbed into bed.
The tones drop:
“Firecall — Grass Alight.”
Instantly, the adrenaline kicks in.
You arrive at the station.
Shoes off. Boots on.
Pants. Jacket. Helmet.
Truck starts. Doors close.
And off you go.
The reality is, most of the time we don’t know when we’re coming home.
And sometimes, sadly, if we will.
Then we come home 6, 8, sometimes 12 hours later — exhausted, filthy, smelling like smoke, sweat, fuel, blood, or tears. Sometimes all at once.
And for many volunteers, the day doesn’t stop there.
Some volunteers will finish a 3+ hour fire call at 2am, get home, grab maybe an hour or two of sleep, and then go straight to their normal employment, apprenticeship, university classes, TAFE, or school the very next morning.
Because life doesn’t pause just because the pager went off.
Not every job is dramatic. Some jobs are what we simply call “run of the mill” — the 2am automatic fire alarm, the oil spill on a road nobody drives down, the rubbish fire, or the suspicious car fire after someone’s made some questionable life choices.
But every single call still requires somebody to get out of bed, leave their family, fuel their own car, and respond.
And in today’s world, that’s becoming harder.
Fuel prices rise.
The cost of living rises.
Life gets busier.
Work gets harder.
Yet somehow, volunteers still find a way to get bums on seats and trucks rolling down the road with lights and sirens.
For many brigades across Australia, volunteer crews are made up of retirees, semi-retirees, shift workers, tradies, parents, apprentices, and everyday people — many of whom aren’t financially well off themselves.
Yet they still choose to run at a loss to protect complete strangers.
That takes a special type of person.
And sometimes, people outside emergency services don’t always understand the toll it can take.
“You were only out for an hour.”
“How are you still tired?”
“You only got up once.”
But what many people don’t see is the adrenaline.
The mental processing.
The stress.
The constant alertness.
The winding down afterwards.
Sometimes a volunteer can be home physically, but their brain is still on the fireground for hours afterwards. It can take a long time for the body to calm back down after running on pure adrenaline in the middle of the night.
The reality is that many Australians feel volunteering is becoming harder every year.
And honestly?
They’re not wrong.
It takes a different type of person to volunteer, and without getting political, the government knows it too. Thankfully, many agencies and organisations are willing to listen and work with volunteers where they can.
New gear, trucks, stations, training opportunities, and the occasional discount or voucher all mean a lot.
But the one thing nobody can truly pay volunteers back for is time.
As the saying goes, time is money.
Volunteers across Australia contribute an estimated 3.4 billion hours every single year. At minimum wage rates, that equates to tens of billions of dollars’ worth of unpaid labour contributed back into communities across the country.
Thousands of emergency responses.
Meals delivered.
Museums opened.
People checked on.
Communities protected.
This year, don’t take your local volunteers for granted.
Whether it’s the Lions Club, museums, CWA groups, Men’s Sheds, Emergency Services, Vinnies, Salvos, St John Ambulance, sporting clubs, or community organisations — give them a thank you.
It means more than money ever could.
For some examples of how you could volunteer in your local community, visit places such as:
NSW Rural Fire Service
NSW SES
Chronic Pain Australia
Australian Red Cross
Visit your local Mens Shed: https://mensshed.org/
Vinnies Australia
Country Women's Association: https://www.cwaofnsw.org.au/
Marine Rescue NSW
Your local Lion's Club
St John Ambulance NSW
The Salvation Army Australia
New South Wales Rugby
And many more amazing volunteering opportunities across Australia.
