Hey there…

I thought it was time that I updated you all with who is doing what these days as there have been a few changes in the last couple of
years.

Up until June last year, I did just about all the admin for Aussie Heroes as I could never work out how to accept offers of help from others without needing people to come and use my laptop. I have always admitted that technology is not my strong point.

Once I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma however, I obviously had to find a way to accept offers of help from others. Fortunately, that coincided with some changes in the way we were working that made it possible for others to help.

So, who does what and how do we split up the duties? It is a case of many hands make light work. 

For most of the last two years Clarissa has looked after the request list. Fortunately, just as I was able to come back to the job, Clarissa had to take a step back to supervise the renovations of her home so the timing could not have been any better.

I prepare the request list on Sundays and on Monday morning it goes out on the blog and Facebook page. Clarissa still sends out the Mailchimp emails every Monday morning. Catherine recently visited Sydney and spent a couple of days learning how to put the request list together and she will step in for me when I need a hand. In a couple of weeks, I will be in Canberra for a few days and it will be hard to find the time to do the Request list on Sunday and to answer emails on the Monday so Catherine will be able to stand in for me.  Yay!

Alex and Bea, our brand-new volunteer, share the responsibility of answering the gratitude emails. Catherine is also helping out there at the moment and steps in when necessary due to family commitments or workloads.  Alex and Bea also upload the Gratitude Post on Tuesdays, as well as the Weekly Dispatch blog post on Fridays. Catherine does the Weekly Dispatch blog but going forward she and Bea will be sharing that responsibility.

We also have a great team answering the Weekly Dispatch emails. When a volunteer emails us to let us know that a quilt or a laundry bag is in the mail, that email is answered and actioned by either Pam, Lisa and
Greg. They share the load between them, depending on work commitments.

Greg has also stepped up to create our website, something we have been wanting to do for a long time but needed a lot of help with.  It will take a little longer to get it up and running but we are getting there with Greg’s expertise.

Catherine has become our Jack of All Trades.  She knows how to do all of the AHQ Admin jobs which has been invaluable, but she is also the one who takes the request lists we receive from various sources and adds the details to our working document.  Catherine also compiles the invoices for payment of postage and keeps track of those details. For a civvie with very little exposure to the military before she started working with us, Catherine is learning lots and is becoming adept at liaising with the various units and ships we deal with.

Courtney helps out too from time to time but at the moment she is mostly concentrating on being a mum with hubby away and working full time.

I don’t think I have forgotten anyone. I sure hope not.

All of our Admin volunteers are absolutely wonderful, and we are so fortunate to have a dedicated team to keep Aussie Heroes running. Their backgrounds include current and ex-serving members, the sister of a Fallen
Warrior, an Army mum, a civilian who was looking for some volunteer work. Given our varied backgrounds we all work at different times.

As long as I don’t have any appointments etc you will find me at the laptop Monday to Friday from about 10 to five pm. Once upon a time I would have worked later than that but these days I am fairly disciplined about
knocking off around 5pm. I do this mostly because I now have arthritis in my neck and by that time, I need to get off the laptop as my neck starts to get sore around then.

Some of our volunteers work full time work so some look at the emails straight after work, some do it late at night. Catherine and Bea might answer emails any time of the day. 

I guess the secret is to be patient with us. We will get to your emails as soon as we can, working around our other commitments. The entire admin team is made up of volunteers and AHQ has to fit in around our other commitments.