Volunteers discuss their reasons for community activism

By Daniel Etty //

The marching band at the Purple Walk for Epilepsy

Charity fundraisers are part of the process that volunteering organisations use to raise funds and continue their good work for the community.

One such organisation is the Epilepsy Association of Western Australia which helps to support the needs of Epilepsy sufferers in WA.

“It’s all about helping the community and getting involved to make a difference no matter how small,” explained epilepsy sufferer Jenifer Ann.

As a volunteer Jenifer busied herself engaging with guests at The Purple Walk for Epilepsy, with all proceeds gained at the event going straight to Epilepsy WA to support their activities in changing the lives of epilepsy sufferers.

“Because I have epilepsy myself this is a personal issue for me, and this gives me the drive to help other people deal with it and live better lives,” she said.

This event “The Purple Walk for Epilepsy” involved various activities for the guests such as a petting zoo, a marching band and of course the main feature a 1km walk around the oval with participants encouraged to walk as many laps as they felt able to show their support.

Among the volunteers was professional photographer Marie Snow who was also the sister of the event organiser Wendy Bagini, capturing the vibe of the event with her pictures.

“As a photographer I feel like that when I take photos of these kind of events I capture the atmosphere and then can share it with others,” she said.

Marie mentioned her past involvement as a volunteer at another charity organisation Red Cross, helping out any way she could because giving up any amount of time you can for others does wonders.

A more local organisation known as the Perth Homeless Support Group engages with the displaced homeless people to make their lives easier any way they can.

Local hairdresser salon owner and founder of The Perth Homeless Support Group Ron Reid exclaimed what a joy it can be to give back to the community.

The support group organised a charity fundraiser movie night which aimed to educate people about all the work the organisation does for the homeless while enjoying a good movie “Ladybird”.

“I believe that this issue is more of a community issue then it is a government issue, because the community can help the homeless people who fall through the cracks and aren’t assisted by government institutions,” he said.

Ron discussed how he came to be walking through Perth city on a hot summers day and how the homeless had no cold water to drink so he decided to organise this for them.

After that Ron created a Facebook group in the hopes that likeminded people would share his concern about the conditions that the homeless people of Perth have to deal with.