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Getting Involved
 The fact that the latest generation of retirees is fitter and more adventurous than ever before has not gone unnoticed by volunteer organisations. Organisers of the Grey Nomad Action Group in Barcaldine specifically target the increasing number of grey nomads who visit the region each dry season to donate their time and expertise to help the local community.
“We are lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the country – one that many grey nomads would like to stop and spend some time in,” said Graham Beissel, a spokesman of the group. “Older travellers have so much experience as well as the time and the desire to make a difference to the local community. Volunteering gives them the perfect opportunity to get involved."
The Barcaldine group have organised several projects for grey nomads this year including presenting career options to a local high school career market, participating in the early stages of developing recreational facilities at Lagoon Creek, and assisting with displays and maintenance at the Australian Workers Heritage Centre.
"We had about a dozen nomads help out with our High School Career Market," Graham said. "They were very interested and pro-active about presenting their experiences. One man brought in his seeing eye dog and demonstrated the need for guide dog trainers. The event went really well and we felt the participants gave the students a unique perspective."
Although the Grey Nomad Action Group is also keen to forge ahead with developing birdwatching areas and extending pathways in Lagoon Creek, they realised that the scope of the project was bigger than they first envisaged.
"We discovered that we needed a huge team of professionals to get the Lagoon Creek project off the ground," said Graham. "And after our experience of last season we also realised that visiting nomads don't really have unlimited time to spend. They may want to stay in Barcaldine for several weeks and volunteer their time while they're here but they may not be able to stay for months. What we really need are smaller projects so people can say, 'I helped to build this while I was visiting Barcaldine,' or 'I put a new roof on that building.' Participants want to feel the satisfaction of having completed something."
The group are hopeful of getting more funding from the government before Christmas which they plan to use to employ a volunteer coordinator.
“The coorindator would really have three objectives – to establish communication links in order to find grey nomads to join the group, to contact local non-profit organisations and get a list of suitable projects and finally to match grey nomads to the work and get things going,” explained Graham.
The Barcaldine group is not alone. Grey Nomad Action groups have also sprung up in Winton in Queensland and Roxby Downs in South Australia.
"I think a growing number of communities will set up similar groups in the future," said Graham. "Our program offers grey nomads the opportunity to utilise their skills to help the community as well as providing a great environment to socialise with each other and the local community. Everybody wins."
For more information, check out the Barcaldine grey nomads volunteer website at http://greynomadproject.jimdo.com/
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