By Jamie Salter
At 80 years old, Dot O’Neill’s passion for volunteering is as strong as ever.
Her dedication to helping her community has not wavered for more than 10 years since joining food support group Transit in Narre Warren.
Now the volunteer coordinator, Dot said she loved having the opportunity to give back and help people in need.
“When you get people coming in saying they haven’t eaten in a couple of days and they’ve been trying to feed the children and have no food in the house, your heart just bleeds for them,” she said.
“But we’re giving out love as much as the food, they’re often looking for someone to talk to.”
Dot can be found at Transit every single day and receives phone calls at all hours throughout the week.
She said she was always ready to drop everything to assist guests and manage Transit’s 30 volunteers.
“In my day to day role I’ll register the volunteers in the morning and go through and help where required,” she said.
“As a volunteer coordinator it’s about lovingly suggesting certain things.
“I also bring the guests in, check they’ve got their masks on and that they have sanitised.
“If I have time I’ll try to help sort out veggies but quite often I don’t.”
Transit focuses on encompassing Christian values by serving those in need within the community.
Dot described Transit as a “church with a difference” with unified volunteers as the source of its ongoing strength and success.
She said it was her fellow volunteers that kept her going for more than a decade.
“We don’t know the difficulties our guests are facing and that’s why we have to give back,” she said.
“There’s more people out there that need help than you realise.
“I’m healthy and if I’ve got health then I can give out.”
When she’s not at Transit, Dot can be found tending to her garden at her one acre Narre Warren South home.
“Sometimes my home doesn’t look like I have a passion for gardening because my first passion will always be Transit,” Dot said.
