News

Volunteers step up

By Lua Ikenasio

Apr 29, 2025

Volunteers travelled from all over Australia to lend a hand. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Connecting Communities Australia was in Echuca last week to help out at properties still recovering from the impact of past floods.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

In collaboration with Echuca Regional Health, Anglicare and Windermere, the organisation identified three properties in Echuca that needed a helping hand.

The volunteers were also in Rochester to help out at 16 more properties.

Chris Finley, Glenn Price and Peter Dickason from Connecting Communities. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

CCA chief operating officer Glenn Price said Rochester and Echuca had been on the organisation’s radar for a while.

“You can tell it’s been a really big impact on the towns, and people are still pretty affected,” he said.

“In September last year, we did similar work in Shepparton, and we had some funding left ... someone from the Rochester Flood Recovery team rang me and I said we’d love to come and help.”

Ben Boerson, Manda Marshall and Nick Redward were among the volunteers. Photo by JORDAN TOWNROW

Eleven volunteers travelled from all over Australia for the week to help out, including two 17-year-olds completing their Duke of Edinburgh volunteer work.

Much of the work involved removing flood debris from gardens, putting in new gates, laying a driveway and a few paint jobs.

CCA aims to help smaller communities recover from natural disasters or prepare them in ways to reduce the impact.

Over the coming months its team will be working in the Bega Valley and along the mid-coast of NSW to help communities in the area stay prepared in case of a natural disaster.

CCA is also looking forward to helping those in western Queensland deal with the aftermath of flooding.

To learn more about CCA, visit tinyurl.com/2s4adpjh