	{"id":103615,"date":"2026-05-30T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/?p=103615"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:42:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:42:28","slug":"recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognising the &#8216;life and heart&#8217; of town"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HEATHCOTE Community House volunteers gathered at Gaffney&#8217;s Bakery last week for breakfast to celebrate their efforts to help make the town an even better place to live.<\/p>\n<p>HCC executive officer Vicki Forde said all who give their time are valued, whether they attend a one-off event or regularly participate in activities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Volunteers are the life and heart of our community in Heathcote,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is an honour to work alongside, provide support and learn from them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Without their generosity, many of the supports and opportunities that strengthen our community simply would not exist.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Their time, heart, generosity, skills and passion make our town a stronger, kinder and more connected place for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are very grateful for everything they do, be it single events, a whole day or just an hour, it is all valuable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The volunteers who assist in many different capacities, including cooking, gardening, maintenance, office work and facilitating events, enjoyed swapping stories and sharing their experiences.<\/p>\n<p>Charlie Miller walks with aged care residents every Friday morning and said it was great to chat with other volunteers and learn about what they do.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everyone puts in whatever they can, and it all adds up,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They all do an amazing job.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The community house did a fantastic job organising the breakfast and it was very much appreciated.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>National Volunteer Week recognises the contributions of volunteers across Australia and invites people to discover how they can be a part of creating stronger communities.<\/p>\n<p>This year&#8217;s theme is Your Year to Volunteer.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone who is interesting in volunteering at HCC can call 5433 2820 or email <a href=\"mailto:heathcotecommunityhouse3@gmail.com\">heathcotecommunityhouse3@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HEATHCOTE Community House volunteers gathered at Gaffney&#8217;s Bakery last week for breakfast to celebrate their efforts to help make the town an even better place to live. HCC executive officer Vicki Forde said all who give their time are valued, whether they attend a one-off event or regularly participate in activities. &#8220;Volunteers are the life [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":103617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-103615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Recognising the &#039;life and heart&#039; of town - McIvor Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Heathcote community volunteers celebrate at Gaffney\u2019s Bakery, highlighting their vital role in making the town stronger.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Recognising the &#039;life and heart&#039; of town - McIvor Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Heathcote community volunteers celebrate at Gaffney\u2019s Bakery, highlighting their vital role in making the town stronger.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"McIvor Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/27-may-tng-37.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sandra James\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sandra James\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sandra James\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a0c5b31d59e28a69f8971339b37c030\"},\"headline\":\"Recognising the &#8216;life and heart&#8217; of town\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":278,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27-may-tng-37.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/\",\"name\":\"Recognising the 'life and heart' of town - McIvor Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27-may-tng-37.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T18:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Heathcote community volunteers celebrate at Gaffney\u2019s Bakery, highlighting their vital role in making the town stronger.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27-may-tng-37.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27-may-tng-37.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"More than 20 community house volunteers gathered for breakfast at Gaffney's Bakery last week to celebrate all they do for others. Photo: Sandra James.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/news\\\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Recognising the &#8216;life and heart&#8217; of town\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"McIvor Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"McIvor Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/HMT-logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/25\\\/2022\\\/11\\\/HMT-logo-1.png\",\"width\":334,\"height\":39,\"caption\":\"McIvor Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a0c5b31d59e28a69f8971339b37c030\",\"name\":\"Sandra James\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/mcivortimes\\\/author\\\/sandra\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Recognising the 'life and heart' of town - McIvor Times","description":"Heathcote community volunteers celebrate at Gaffney\u2019s Bakery, highlighting their vital role in making the town stronger.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Recognising the 'life and heart' of town - McIvor Times","og_description":"Heathcote community volunteers celebrate at Gaffney\u2019s Bakery, highlighting their vital role in making the town stronger.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/","og_site_name":"McIvor Times","article_published_time":"2026-05-29T18:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/27-may-tng-37.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sandra James","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sandra James","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/"},"author":{"name":"Sandra James","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#\/schema\/person\/2a0c5b31d59e28a69f8971339b37c030"},"headline":"Recognising the &#8216;life and heart&#8217; of town","datePublished":"2026-05-29T18:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/"},"wordCount":278,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/27-may-tng-37.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/","name":"Recognising the 'life and heart' of town - McIvor Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/27-may-tng-37.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-29T18:00:00+00:00","description":"Heathcote community volunteers celebrate at Gaffney\u2019s Bakery, highlighting their vital role in making the town stronger.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/27-may-tng-37.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2026\/05\/27-may-tng-37.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"More than 20 community house volunteers gathered for breakfast at Gaffney's Bakery last week to celebrate all they do for others. Photo: Sandra James."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/news\/recognising-the-life-and-heart-of-town\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Recognising the &#8216;life and heart&#8217; of town"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/","name":"McIvor Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#organization","name":"McIvor Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2022\/11\/HMT-logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2022\/11\/HMT-logo-1.png","width":334,"height":39,"caption":"McIvor Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/#\/schema\/person\/2a0c5b31d59e28a69f8971339b37c030","name":"Sandra James","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/author\/sandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/215"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103615"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/mcivortimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=103615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}