As part of Wear Orange Wednesday, Greater Shepparton City Council will turn the Eastbank Centre, the Monash Park tree and the Mooroopna Tower orange and yellow to show its support for emergency service volunteers.
The national celebration pays tribute to Victorian SES volunteers who serve our community 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The council made a slight change to WOW day by including the incredible work of the Shepparton Search and Rescue Squad in the tribute.
Tatura SES unit controller Bec Gould said it was a lovely tribute but volunteers didn't work for praise.
“At the end of the day, we want to help people and we want to be there for our community in time of need,” Ms Gould said.
“If people are having a bad day, we want them to know they can rely on us to help them through it.
“As volunteers it can be at times difficult managing our families and other jobs, but we are lucky our team is there to back and support one another.”
This year has been one of the busiest in VICSES and SSARS history, with VICSES volunteers responding to more than 35 000 requests for assistance to the impacts of floods, storms, fire support, road rescues and more.
Shepparton Search and Rescue president Michael D’Elia said it was fantastic his team was able to be a part of the tribute.
“Wear Orange Wednesday is a fantastic initiative during volunteer week,” Mr D’Elia said.
“As people know, we have a great working relationship with Tatura and Murchison SES and a number of other units around the place.
“It’s absolutely brilliant we have been included and our community can celebrate the fantastic work SES volunteers do and also the work our guys do, too.”
Mr D’Elia said it was important to promote and acknowledge all the volunteers who made the Greater Shepparton community what it was.
“You don’t have to be part of an emergency service group. It could be cricket, footy, netball, all those sorts of things, or even the Country Women's Association - the most important thing for me is that people give back to their community,” Mr D’Elia said.
“Whether it's one hour or five hours, every little bit helps.”
City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Seema Abdullah encouraged people to wear orange and yellow today to pay tribute to our district's heroes.
“On WOW day, we’re asking you to do the same, by dressing in orange or yellow and posting a message to social media with the hashtags #sheppartonsearchandrescue #weworkasone #ThankYouSES and #WOWDay,” Cr Abdullah said.
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