Volunteering is in the DNA of community heroes Pam Tremlett and Diane King. Many people enjoy giving back where and when they can, but for Pam and Di, it’s virtually a full-time hustle.
The two sisters are part of the furniture at the Reverend Bill Crews Foundation, having been part of his congregation for decades and now volunteering four days per week – sometimes five – in the foundation’s kitchen and Loaves and Fishes restaurant in Ashfield, in Sydney’s inner west.
Alongside other volunteers, the duo prepare a wide variety of meals, ranging from trays of healthy vegetables to indulgences like a hot pie and other delicious foods, which are then provided daily to people experiencing financial hardship, homelessness or other disadvantages across Sydney.
In addition to the walk-in and sit-down restaurant, pre-prepared meals are also delivered daily to a dozen other locations across the city by the foundation’s food vans. Pam and Di’s labour of love is evident and reflected in every bite.
“You get far more out of it than you ever give,” Tremlett told Starts at 60.
“It’s rewarding, and it gets you out of the house. It makes you think about other things, and it’s just nice to be a nice human being [and] and help others. But you get far more out of it than you ever put in”.
Aside from their regular patronage with Reverend Crews’ congregation and foundation, Pam and Di have a long history of both volunteering and giving in general, having worked in the service of the public for their entire working lives.
For Pam, that was many decades as a nurse, while Di enjoyed a distinguished career in the fire service and as a care worker in both Australia and New Zealand.
Alongside their professional careers, the pair have volunteered with numerous organisations for most of their lives, beginning at an orphanage and home for disadvantaged children in Sydney when they were just 14 years of age. Even today, Di also volunteers with the Rural Fire Service and as a volunteer ambulance driver.
With the Bill Crews Foundation, Pam and Di’s responsibilities extend beyond the kitchen. The pair have also worked in the welfare team, visiting people in hospital as well as people in jail and those newly released, and those who are lonely and looking for some companionship for part of their day. They also work with the RSL Auxiliary, selling raffle tickets, making badges and serving on the Probus Welcoming Committee, which works to keep retirees active and engaged.
Recently, a phone call from New York asked Pam to go and find “a man in a black car” who was sitting behind Leichhardt Oval. Several members of the organisation found the man, picked him up, brought him back to the foundation’s restaurant, gave him some food, showed him what services were available and at the end, the man decided to go home, seemingly reassured as to his purpose and importance in life.
“We visited a man in jail, and he got out on bail, and we waited for him and found him accommodation for the night and put him on the train back to his home,” Pam said.
“And I actually had a phone call yesterday from him saying he’s doing well. He’s on a very strict bail, and he’s doing well, so that’s all the reward I need, that’s beautiful.”
Pam said volunteering is a demanding but rewarding exercise and while the Bill Crews Foundation is sometimes a little short in numbers, the corporate community regularly steps up with a healthy workforce eager to pitch in.
“We are short sometimes, but we also have corporate volunteers, that get their staff as a staff building exercise to come out and help. We have regular volunteers who are very faithful and come every day, just over Christmas we’ve been a bit short of our regular volunteers. I know of one lass that was doing a gap year who is now going to university, and people are on holidays at the moment, so there can be shortages. But usually there’s people that will fill in.
“There’s also a couple of schools that bring their students at the weekend, and they volunteer. They’ve been volunteering in the school holidays, and a teacher comes and I don’t know whether she’s volunteering or whether she’s paid, but they come and supervise the kids, and they work in the restaurant, in the kitchen and serving meals, and it’s part of their school curriculum.
“We have Newington boys during term. Two of them come every day during the week as part of their schooling, as part of their community service schooling, which is amazing, it’s fabulous because it shows the kids that there’s a different part of life.”
And despite being into their seventies, Pam says neither her nor Di have any intention of slowing down.
“I’m not really an everyday hero. Just an ordinary person trying to live a reasonable life and get on with what you do after you retire.
“It’s no point sitting down watching midday television. If you can do something, you can do something.”
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