IRT Macarthur resident Maureen Loveday on giving a helping hand

Maureen Loveday likes helping people. She and her husband Neville moved into IRT Macarthur 12-and-a-half years ago and started volunteering at the community pretty much straight away.

“I like helping people,” she says. “I get pleasure out of helping people and helping them to do something they can’t do themselves.”

Neville often assists Maureen – setting up and packing down events – and he also volunteers at the aged care centre. “I’m their favourite volunteer,” he laughs. Maureen also volunteers at the aged care centre.

Maureen is inspired by her Christian faith to help others and when The Good Life caught up with her, she was at IRT Macarthur’s Community Centre waiting for 26 boxes of groceries to be collected for the drought appeal.

“I saw an article in The Sunday Telegraph [about the appeal] and thought we could do something here,” she says.

Through her line dancing group, the village residents, and IRT Macarthur’s auxiliary The Crafty Village People, she coordinated donations of groceries and raised $2000.

Maureen has been president of The Crafty Village People for nine years and one of the auxiliary’s biggest fundraisers each year is the Cancer Council’s Biggest Morning Tea. Maureen explains they fundraise by holding raffles, craft stalls and from the morning tea itself. This year the event raised $4000.

The auxiliary also supports residents at the aged care centre by giving them Christmas gifts. Money to buy the gifts is donated by the IRT Macarthur community. The auxiliary also gives Easter buns and Mother’s and Father’s Day gifts.

Some 40 residents are part of the auxiliary. “We have a chat and morning tea and when they need to help out they do,” she says proudly.