She has been a long-time supporter of Seeing Eye Dogs Australia (SEDA), but Suzanne Hopkins never envisaged herself as the jack-of-all trades volunteer she has become.
The Hopkins had been Seeing Eye Dog sponsors for numerous years when a Suzanne decided to become a puppy carer. That decision proved to be the starting point for her to join the thousands of Australians that give up their time and effort each year to support Vision Australia.
“I’d thought about being a puppy care for a while and then our dog at home was getting lonely so I decided to give it a go,” Suzanne said.
“The puppy caring experience was amazing, but unfortunately we couldn’t do it again because were moving house, but I had started working part-time so I thought I could help out by volunteering instead,” the 56 year-old said.
Suzanne has now been a regular volunteer since 2013 and supports SEDA and Vision Australia in a number of different ways, from collecting SEDA donation dogs to helping out at Carols By Candlelight.
She has become a regular at SEDA’s Kensington base, spending one day there each week as an administration volunteer, along with that and caring for dogs on a weekend or temporary basis, Suzanne has also recently put her hand up to take on more responsibilities.
“Recently I’ve started driving for SEDA. The dogs will often need to be picked up or taken somewhere for tests, training or to be delivered to a client or care, so whenever that needs to happen I’ll help out.
“To be completely honest I never thought I would end up volunteering like this. When we did the puppy caring I was just completely blown away by the experience. What Seeing Eye Dogs are able to do is amazing and to be part of that while having the great support of SEDA was completely beyond what I had expected and I just wanted to do more.”
Suzanne is far from alone in wanting to support Australia’s leading blindness and low vision service provider. Over the 12 months to July 2016, more than 2,600 volunteers contributed over 760,000 hours to Vision Australia, an average of nearly 220 hours per volunteer.
“Everything I’ve done here has been amazing and I consider myself to be extremely lucky that I’ve been able to give back.
“People will often ask about being a puppy carer and if it’s hard to give the dog back at the end. It is a little tough, but you just need to think what the dog will mean to somebody and that any way you can help is going to make a positive difference.”
Interested in volunteering at Vision Australia? To find out more head to our website or contact us on 1300 84 74 66 or at [email protected].