Therese and Clive have always loved to move around and see new places and they were no strangers to volunteer work. The couple looked for ways they could help people while traveling before discovering our volunteer program, Outback Links. So, when she and her husband Clive finished work some years ago, the couple invested in a campervan and set about planning some adventures on the open road.

“There was a lot that appealed to us about the program, but we particularly liked that it was something we could do together as a couple. It also seemed flexible, and there was a choice of jobs all over the country, so we contacted Frontier Services and asked when we could start!”

Their first project took them to Yeoval, near Orange, NSW. The managers of the Banjo Paterson Museum were looking for help cataloguing books, and as a long-term fan of the poet, Therese was in her element. From there, she was hooked. “Since then, we’ve been back to Yeoval a couple of times and taken on a number of other jobs across the country,” says Therese. “Most recently, we were in Lightning Ridge helping possibly the hardest-working, most resilient woman I have ever met!”

That woman was Marianne, a farmer who raises cattle and goats as well as growing and harvesting crops. According to Therese, she just doesn’t stop.

“We stayed with her for a week and said we’d help her with any jobs she felt needed to be done, which turned out to be a bit of everything.Clive helped by moving animals and building a goat yard, while I cleaned, gardened, and did a week’s worth of cooking.”

Marianne also suggested they bring meals to a friend in town who’d been doing it tough—a gesture of human kindness and community that touched Therese, particularly given how busy Marianne’s life is. Over the week, the group formed a firm bond, making it tough to say goodbye.

“It was so special to meet her, so kind of them to let us stay, and I feel it was Marianne’s way of saying thank you for what we’d done for them.”

Therese and Clive say the journeys home are often emotional as they discuss the differences their efforts have made. “It’s such a privilege to be let into someone’s life, regardless of the circumstances, and that’s the most important thing I’ve learned,” says Therese. “It’s not the volunteers who make Frontier Services so special, it’s the people of the bush who so graciously and bravely accept our help to make their lives a little easier and brighter.”

Thank you for your continued support and generosity, which allows volunteers like Therese and Clive to make a lasting impact in remote communities. Your kindness is what makes all this possible.

Register today!

If you’d like to become an Outback Links volunteer, click this link. If you know someone in rural Australia who would benefit from the help of volunteers, click the link here.