Volunteers are the backbone of our community, collectively contributing hundreds of thousands of hours of work every year.
Our Unsung Heroes series will shine a spotlight on some of the local residents working quietly in the background to keep our community thriving.From the first time Sarah-Jane Joerin volunteered with Operation Flinders, she was hooked.
She initially volunteered to gain leadership experience while she was training to be a Kokoda guide.
That was about 15 years ago and she’s never looked back.
“I did one (with Operation Flinders) and I’ve been with them ever since, and I’ve never been back to Kokoda,” she says.
Operation Flinders was founded in 1991 by Pam Murray-White, a teacher and former army officer.
It was that combination of skills that inspired her to create a program for at-risk students, using some elements of army life that she felt could be a positive influence.
More than 30 years later, Operation Flinders still aims to help young people reach their potential through evidence-based outback programs that help them to connect, find purpose and build resilience.
Over the course of eight days, participants are led through a range of activities including abseiling, hiking, bush survival and cooking, navigation and learning about local Indigenous culture.
Now an Army Reservist living in the Adelaide Hills, Sarah-Jane uses those skills alongside those she has learned with Operation Flinders to inform her “firm but fair” approach.
I try and guide them into a better direction than what I chose.
But her own early life has also added to her toolkit.
“From 16 to about 30, I was pretty rocky,” she says.
“You could have called me an extended troubled teen … it was a path I chose.
“… I bring to (Operation Flinders) 20 years of life skills, of time that I spent in a direction that made me who I am today, made me a little bit tougher, a little bit wary, maybe made me a bit street-wise and able to relate to some of these kids.
“I go out there and I try and guide them into a better direction than what I chose.”
Volunteering with Operation Flinders is now a passion she shares with her dad, who was already volunteering with the organisation when she joined.
But while that shared experience is a special part of her role, it’s witnessing the changes that the program inspires in the participants that really excites her.
“It redirects them and you can see the change,” she says.
“Over the eight days you can see them go from being really unsure of themselves and doubting their abilities and saying they can’t do this, to at the end these massive smiles and they’re so proud.
“They’re so proud of everything they’ve done and then we’re so proud … it’s beautiful to see.”
