Five decade milestone for volunteer

John D’Souza doesn’t do anything by halves and when he puts his hand up to get involved, he is all in and, is all in, for the long haul.

Nothing epitomises his commitment to community than his long standing association with the St Vincent de Paul Society – affectionately known as Vinnies – the long time volunteer and administrator clocking up five decades of rolling up his sleeves and being an integral part of the charity organisation last month.

September 9, barely a fortnight after he arrived in Mount Gambier from India with his family, was when John was taken to a meeting and immediately took on a role, making that date his official 50 year milestone and over that time he has always been a local volunteer as well as taking on State, national and international roles.

Vinnies was founded in Paris in 1833 by Frédéric Ozanam, established by like-minded people who wanted to put their Catholic faith into action and that is exactly why John got involved in the first place and why he continues to this day.

“It is nourishment for your faith when you do charity work,” he said. “It allows you to show your faith through helping people and it strengthens your own faith.

“When you get involved like this it gives you a unique position to see, person-to-person, and to share the trouble ad hardship that is going on in someone’s life.

“Often they won’t tell anyone else about what they are going through but when the come into Vinnies they often open their heart and tell you what’s happening.”

And since attending that first meeting and ascending to the president role in the local conference for a decade, John’s reason for being involved has always been the people.

“Working with people is my favourite part,” he said. “I’m a human being, I make mistakes, I’m not a saint. Building relationships with people makes you strong and helping people is a two way street.”

From day one to now, much of John’s time is spent visiting people in hospital, going to aged care facilities and working in the charity shop and while he dedicates a lot of time to his Vinnies work, the organisation welcomes volunteers with no boundaries on the time they need to commit.

“It maybe once a fortnight or once a week or a couple of hours, it is just about building relationships,” John said.

THE JOHN D’SOUZA VINNIES FILES

Arrived in Australia – August 24, 1974

Became an Australian Citizen – June 7, 1976

President of Vinnies St Paul’s Conference – 1974-1983

President of South East Regional Council – 1988-1993; 1996-2000 & 2017

Vice President of State Council of South Australia (Vinnies) – 2001-2004

State President of Vinnies South Australia – 2004-2009

Member of Provisional Board of State Council of New South Wales (Vinnies) – President General from 2009-2010

Treasurer local Vinnies for almost 20 years

Current member of Overseas, Partnership & Development Committee (Vinnies)