Making a difference in her seaside home

Beachport’s Linda Carter-Shepherd embodies the volunteer spirit and while she is still rolling up her sleeves working for the community, she is also hoping she can inspire others to take a more active role.

“I hope to inspire my girls and members of the community to give back where they can,” Linda said, after being named the 2024 Citizen of the Year (Kintore Ward). “We can all make some time and do something for others. I also hope that I pass on the values that I grew up with which are compassion, courage, respect and social justice.

“I’m feeling very blessed to receive the award, to be in Beachport raising three amazing daughters, to have had the upbringing I had and blessed to be working in a field that I love and volunteering in areas that I love.”

Those areas include the Beachport Community Emergency Response Team, where she is a team leader; the South Australian Ambulance Service as a first responder, Cert IV ambulance officer and peer support leader; Beachport Surf Lifesaving Club as a training officer and Millicent Soccer Club.

“I am usually on call four nights a week and some days if I’m available,” she said. “That means I carry a pager, respond in a 4WD ambulance and, provide treatment until other ambulance resources arrive to transport.

“As a peer support leader, I follow up with paramedics and volunteers post a potentially traumatic event and check in and refer on if needed and I have also been given the opportunity to do some SAAS remote training which involves on rope training to access patients in areas that are hard to access.”

Those roles might be in seemingly high pressure situations but Linda thrives on the opportunities they present.

“Amazing training, great people, great skills and I feel very privileged to be able to attend to people and their families when they are in need,” she said. “I love being part of someone’s learning journey like I am with the surf lifesaving.”

A coach and team manager at the Millicent Soccer Club, Linda has also coached representative teams and SAPSASA.

Her willingness to give back can be placed squarely at the feet of her parents.

“I was raised in Dublin, Ireland, by my parents Richard and Eileen and I also have a younger sister and when growing up doing something for others was something that was instilled into me and I have continued with that,” Linda said. “I studied social work and continued to volunteer through my studies and after I graduated I worked for a couple of years before embarking on the journey my parents were booked onto but never took to Australia.”

Linda did arrive, though, and that was in 2002, working in regional Western Australia and the Northern Territory, moving to Beachport in 2006, raising her three girls there and working as a mental health social worker, as well as her extensive volunteering.

“It is a privilege to be a support to community member and their families and have the skills to make a difference,” she said. “To answer the pager and be present for someone and make a difference. Be part of something bigger. I believe that we all have so much to give and so much to learn. Volunteering can give you back so much more than what you give – skills, friendship, confidence and self-belief.

“I would recommend volunteering to everyone and it is a great way to meet people, learn new things, give back to the community.”