PAST volunteers of the much-loved Ballarat Combined Charities Card Shop are being urged to reach out as organisers plan to celebrate the local institution\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, 30 March, volunteers will meet for an afternoon tea at the Ballarat Golf Club to mark the store\u2019s achievements which closed for good just before Christmas.<\/p>\n
The seasonal gift and card shop ran with the help of 150 members during its lifetime, and coordinator Denise Boyko, said that of those people, 35 of them have been unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not too bad considering the 37 years it\u2019s been running. It\u2019d be nice to contact everyone though because I don\u2019t want anyone to feel left out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially when it\u2019s been such a voluntary thing all these years, and a successful endeavour. There\u2019s definitely some members who\u2019ve put in quite a lot of years into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some invitations have returned undelivered, and Ms Boyko has tried several methods to get in contact with past volunteers including posts on the group\u2019s Facebook page, word-of-mouth, and correspondence with relatives.<\/p>\n
Her volunteer list for the store dates as far as 1993, leaving the first few years\u2019 worth of helpers unaccounted alongside \u201ca few gaps\u201d in recent years.<\/p>\n
The get-together will be mostly informal, and a history will be presented to showcase the funds raised and the charities supported over the shop\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
About 50 volunteers are expected to attend, alongside special guests, and Ms Boyko said it will be a well-deserved farewell for a constant fixture in many of their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be great getting everyone back together again, and thinking about all the good times and achievements that have been made,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our alumni are quite elderly so it\u2019ll be good for them to see other people they worked with back in the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a good, social thing for a lot of them, and it\u2019ll just be nice for all the volunteers to feel what they\u2019ve done is very worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n
Volunteers wishing to join in the celebration can contact Ms Boyko via email at mboyko@bigpond.net.au.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PAST volunteers of the much-loved Ballarat Combined Charities Card Shop are being urged to reach out as organisers plan to celebrate the local institution\u2019s history. On Wednesday, 30 March, volunteers will meet for an afternoon tea at the Ballarat Golf Club to mark the store\u2019s achievements which closed for good just before Christmas. The seasonal […]<\/p>\n