Bellarine Community Support Register (BCSR) was recently honoured with a nomination in the 2021 Victorian Volunteer Awards.
BCSR was one of seven finalists in the COVID Resilience Award category.
BCSR’s purpose is to enhance the feeling of safety and security, confidence and sense of wellbeing of those in need of support living on the Bellarine Peninsula. It operates from Bellarine Police Station in Ocean Grove and is run by volunteers.
The awards were held at Government House on March 25.
“To be nominated for such an award was amazing and a great acknowledgement of the hard work of the volunteers over the past two years with the impact of COVID resulting in our organisation setting up remote operations at very short notice,” volunteer office coordinator Denise Hibbins said.
“The great thing about BCSR is the volunteers and their commitment to continued provision of our service to those who request it.
“I think the volunteers have shown incredible commitment given they were using their own equipment such as their own telephones, power, you get the drift.
“Our data integrity however was not compromised and the police had access to up to date data as if we were still operating within the Bellarine Police Station at Ocean Grove.
“We were delighted to be a finalist. It was fantastic recognition of a small community organisation run by volunteers who are not funded by the government unless we apply and are successful for grants. We generally rely on our sponsor of Kings Funerals and donations from the community.”
