‘People are good for me,’ says RangeCare’s new life member

RangeCare’s oldest volunteer Jim Coles, 91, was honoured on Friday (November 5) with Life Membership at the organisation’s AGM. 

Jim, who helped build RangeCare from the ground up, and has been volunteering there since 1993, said he enjoyed every minute of his service. 

“I’m proud of what this place has done and I know the work that’s been put into it to get things going and it’s getting better all the time,” Jim said.  “I’ll be part of this for as long as I can. It gives me great satisfaction to work here and to do the job I’m doing. So to get a life membership, that’s a bonus. I still like to meet people. People are good for me.”

RangeCare’s volunteer coordinator Cara Doherty said Jim was a very highly regarded and much loved volunteer. “He’s our longest serving volunteer, so he’s seen some huge changes over the 27 years that he’s been with us,” said Cara.

Jim started initially as a part of a small group of founding members, and he was heavily involved in significant fundraising to build the current RangeCare facility at Flaxton.  “In more recent times, Jim’s been heavily involved in our Op Shop in Mapleton where he’s much loved by the team of volunteers there as well as customers that come in just to have a chat with him. 

“Not only is he our longest serving volunteer, but he’s also currently our oldest volunteer. So at 91, it’s really quite amazing that his contribution to the organization and his commitment to serving the community still stays strong. And he still definitely has that energy, enthusiasm, and passion for what he does.

“He was just so generous with giving of his time,” said former Op Shop supervisor, Bev McMullin. “And I think he’s a huge inspiration to other volunteers. And the fact that he’s been doing it for so long and still loves it with drive, commitment, and passion ... he’s very dear and special to me. And he just made my life easy as a manager. You just want all volunteers to be like Jim.”

RangeCare CEO Greg Mannion, Life Member Jim Coles and Board Chair Lenore Simpson at the AGM.