TIME and time again you hear volunteers praising the satisfactory feeling they get when lending time to a good cause.
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Volunteer and coach co-ordinator at Riding for the Disabled Ballarat, Pat Fisken, has another perspective she hopes influences more people to give volunteering a try.
For the past 35 years she has given her time to providing people with a disability the chance to enjoy an activity that wouldn’t normally be possible in their day to day lives.
In fact, without people like Pat, who has helped raise more than $650,000 to build a new Equine Training Centre at Mt Rowan, the program wouldn’t even exist.
But without more volunteers there is the possibility some would miss out on the chance to participate.
“It was really worrying last term, knowing how short we were,” she said. “We can’t operate without volunteers, a well trained operator is worth their weight in gold.”
Riding for the Disabled Ballarat will hold a volunteer training and information session on Friday, January 30, at 10am at Federation University Equine Centre on Rosehill Road, Mt Rowan.
For more information phone Pat on 0409 218 298.
What do you like most about your job?
I get great satisfaction in seeing riders get better at balancing and riding, and seeing their confidence grow.
What’s the most important things in your life?
To be happy. That’s one of the things you see here, the horses make most people so happy.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give someone younger?
Come and give volunteering a try, if it’s not your thing there is no compulsion.
What’s one thing Ballarat is missing?
Ballarat has a huge amount of just about everything. It must be missing something, but I have no idea what it is.
What would you do with $1 million?
I wouldn’t need $1 million, just a couple of hundred thousand to make the arenas more user friendly. And it would be nice to have a special spot for the horse poo.