Finding belonging through volunteering

Every week, Australian Red Cross volunteer Keren pays a visit to two older people at a nearby aged care home. “They live on opposite sides of the home, so sometimes I’ll visit Charles first and then I’ll go and see Margaret,” she says. “Charles is 90, he has early-stage Alzheimer’s. Margaret is in her early eighties. At the end of the day, you can see their mood change, because you were just sitting with them and listening.”

While Keren’s visits brighten the days of Charles and Margaret, volunteering with Australian Red Cross has transformed Keren’s own experience of settling in Australia. After moving here from Honduras in 2023 in search of better opportunities for her children, volunteering helped her to find a sense of belonging in a country that was entirely new.

Keren discovered Australian Red Cross through a recruitment stall at her TAFE campus in Adelaide, where staff introduced her to the aged care volunteer program. Raised in a culture where older people are deeply respected, volunteering in aged care felt like an opportunity to give back in a way that reflected the values she’d grown up with.

“My father always said that growing older was a blessing,” she says with a smile. “He’d say, ‘god willing, you’ll get as old as me!’”

Keren first became a volunteer visitor with Australian Red Cross in 2024. “We are there to spend really quality time with them,” Keren says of being paired up with Charles and Margaret. “Sometimes when they’re a bit down, you just listen or sit next to them so they feel like they’re accompanied by someone, and you can see how that really helps them cope with anything they're going through.”

Both Charles and Margaret enjoy sharing stories of the past with Keren. Charles tells her about the years he spent helping countries around the world to improve their agricultural systems, and his stories often become the starting point for long conversations, and sometimes, a singalong.

“When I arrived recently, he said, ‘Oh, I love your smile. Give that smile’,” Keren says. “And then he said, ‘Little things mean a lot’. I found out he learned that from a song.” A lifelong music enthusiast, Charles is often introducing Keren to new ‘old’ songs. “We like to sing them together,” she adds.

Before long, those visits inspired Keren to volunteer with Australian Red Cross TeleChat, calling older people facing isolation for a social conversation each week. Sometimes, those chats would stretch out for hours – neither party wanting to hang up as they were enjoying the conversation so much.

“We have really lovely, long chats,” says Keren of Mabel, who lives in Cairns and enjoys regular calls with Keren. “Sometimes my kids will come and say hi to Mabel, and she will chat to them as well. You can see how happy she gets talking to the young children, even just hearing their voices.”