Some of the Sutherland Shire's most dedicated volunteers have been recognised by leading blindness and low vision service provider Vision Australia.
The non-profit organisation held its annual volunteer recognition ceremony at Caringbah this week, acknowledging the numerous volunteers who give up their time each week to support the region's blind and low vision community.
The Caringbah ceremony acknowledged all of Vision Australia's volunteers in the region and also saw individuals marking three, five and 10 years of volunteering receive service pins acknowledging their milestones.
Caringbah's Lenore Callender was one volunteer who received a 10-year service pin, having signed up as volunteer after coming close to losing her vision.
"Due to a retinal detachment I came very close to losing my vision. After that I saw an opportunity to volunteer with Vision Australia and I thought after what I'd been through I should give something back," she said.
"I started off as a gift wrapping volunteer and it just went from there. When the Caringbah office opened I was there to help unpack and set it up and since then I've been involved a range of things, if there's something that needs doing I usually find myself involved."
While she's had a varied role in her time at Vision Australia, she has had one constant role, running a telelink crossword group for the past nine years.
"The group is done over the phone and has people from all over Australia in it. They dial in and we work together to solve a crossword, with everyone getting their own clues to work through," she said.
"It's something I really enjoy and I think I get more out of it than the clients. One woman said to me once 'you don't think you do a lot, but this group is the only time I talk to somebody each week.' When she said that I realised how much of an impact we can have on people's lives."
