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Speaker 1: Well, it is where Orange Wednesday today which recognizes the

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Speaker 1: incredible volunteers of the Northern Territory Emergency Service and this

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Speaker 1: year holds special significance for the Northern Territory Emergency Service,

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Speaker 1: marking fifty years of service with the agency formed in

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Speaker 1: the wake of Cyclone Tracy back in nineteen seventy four.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line to tell us more

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Speaker 1: is Community Engagement Officer Reese Edwards. Good morning, rece Coop.

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Speaker 1: I seem to be having a bit of an issue

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Speaker 1: there with the phone line. Let's try again. Good morning

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Speaker 1: to your reesod morning.

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Speaker 2: How are you doing?

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Speaker 1: Yare really good? Lovely to have you on the show.

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Speaker 1: Reese remind us of the importance of volunteers at the

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Speaker 1: emergency services and to emergency services and how broad that

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Speaker 1: service is.

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Speaker 2: Well, absolutely so. Today is what we call WOW Day,

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Speaker 2: which is our where Orange Wednesday, where we ask people

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Speaker 2: all over the nation, not just the Territory, to show

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Speaker 2: their appreciation Forncy Service volunteers by wearing orange to work

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Speaker 2: or perhaps hosting an Orange Team morning tea like we

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Speaker 2: did at our head office today. It's the day for

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Speaker 2: all emergency service volunteers, not just for ntest. So it's

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Speaker 2: a day to celebrate bushfires and also fire services, to

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Speaker 2: ambulance and everyone that really takes time out and puts

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Speaker 2: themselves out to contribute to their community in ways that

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Speaker 2: not all of us are able to well.

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Speaker 1: And we know that the volunteers on this front do

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Speaker 1: a phenomenal job. I mean even in New South Wales

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Speaker 1: at the moment we are seeing some of the incredible

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Speaker 1: work that they do with the flooding that's happening there,

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Speaker 1: and for us here in the Northern Territory, unfortunately, we

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Speaker 1: do live in a location that has some quite extreme weather.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely and that sort of falls in with our theme

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Speaker 2: of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. So one of the

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Speaker 2: reasons that we like to celebrate our day is to

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Speaker 2: say thank you to our volunteers, to all of those

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Speaker 2: people around so their employers and particularly their families who

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Speaker 2: also shoulder the burden and make the effort to allow

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Speaker 2: these people to be able to do these things, which

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Speaker 2: makes such a huge impact. So up here in the territory,

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Speaker 2: obviously we're prone to cyclones. You know, we've seen that

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Speaker 2: the East Coast has just been quavered mercilessly black class

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Speaker 2: than we were always having fires. So what people may

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Speaker 2: not realize when they see these things on the news

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Speaker 2: is that all of those people that you see out

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Speaker 2: there are people who are doing this in their own time,

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Speaker 2: at their own cost, and for no other reason than

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Speaker 2: they want to make a positive impact in their community

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Speaker 2: and for.

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Speaker 1: Us here in the Northern Territory celebrating the fiftieth anniversary

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Speaker 1: for NT Emergency Services, I mean, n test coming about

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Speaker 1: following on from such a terrible situation with Cyclone Tracy,

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Speaker 1: but really showing the incredible work that you guys.

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Speaker 2: Do, absolutely so coming out of Tracy, which is I

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Speaker 2: think not even arguably the worst thing that's ever happened

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Speaker 2: here in the Northern Territory. You know, if we can

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Speaker 2: look and find a silver lining there, it is that

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Speaker 2: we did have the sort of genesis of what became

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Speaker 2: the modern NT Emergency Service, and I think that that's

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Speaker 2: something that has really, you know, mitigated the impact of

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Speaker 2: many of the disasters that we've had since Tracy. So,

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Speaker 2: you know, something terrible giving birth to something really positive

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Speaker 2: and something that moving forward, you know, is going to

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Speaker 2: grow even more and have a greater impact on the

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Speaker 2: way that we live our lives up here. In the territory.

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Speaker 1: Now, what events have you got planned for today? I know,

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Speaker 1: as you said, you have one a little earlier, but

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Speaker 1: what else is planned?

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Speaker 2: Well, we have our stall set up here in the

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Speaker 2: Smith Street small Smith Street Mall. There's currently about a

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Speaker 2: dozen of us and we've brought in some of our

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Speaker 2: vehicles and some of our toys. We have our mascot,

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Speaker 2: Paddy Platypus, who is here visiting with us, popping into

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Speaker 2: say hi to some local businesses, and we're also scheduled

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Speaker 2: to have a quick visit from the Chief Minister just

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Speaker 2: to say hi. But we're here until about two o'clock

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Speaker 2: this afternoon. I would love to speak with anyone who's

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Speaker 2: walking through and if there's anyone who's considering potentially volunteering,

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Speaker 2: we have some people here who would love to talk

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Speaker 2: to them and help them through that process.

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Speaker 1: Well, it is National Volunteer a week as well, and

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Speaker 1: I would imagine that you guys, you're always on the

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Speaker 1: lookout for some more volunteers.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's something that is always at the front of

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Speaker 2: our thinking. So we're very fortunate to have incredibly dedicated volunteers,

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Speaker 2: but we frankly don't have enough. We're always on the

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Speaker 2: lookout for people who can spend some time with us.

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Speaker 2: And one of the things that I'd really like to

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Speaker 2: get out with you at the moment if I could,

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Speaker 2: is that you don't have to have a certain set

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Speaker 2: of skills, and you don't have to be a particular

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Speaker 2: kind of person to volunteer. It's not the case that

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Speaker 2: you have to fit a mold or a checklist. If

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Speaker 2: you're someone with a passion for your community and you

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Speaker 2: have time that you'd like to dedicate, come and have

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Speaker 2: a chat with us and we can find a way

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Speaker 2: for you to join and for you to contribute to

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Speaker 2: your community.

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Speaker 1: And race like how rewarding is it, because I would

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Speaker 1: imagine that some of the work that you guys do,

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Speaker 1: some of that volunteer work, it would be incredibly rewarding

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Speaker 1: to be able to get out there and assist your

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Speaker 1: fellow territory in it is.

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Speaker 2: It's confronting at times, and you know it's really easy,

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Speaker 2: but there is a sense of achievement and accomplishment that

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Speaker 2: you have when you participate in something like the emergency services,

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Speaker 2: you know, and there is a sense of community and

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Speaker 2: friendship that I don't think you find in many other places.

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Speaker 2: So the work that you do can be very very challenging,

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Speaker 2: but you are surrounded by wonderful people. You have a

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Speaker 2: really tangible and important outcome and it's something that most

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Speaker 2: people really find is a really positive aspect of their

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Speaker 2: lives when they get involved well.

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Speaker 1: Into emergency services. Community engagement Officer. Re said wards, Happy

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Speaker 1: Wow Day, Thank you very much for joining me on

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Speaker 1: the show this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having us. And as I said before,

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Speaker 2: if you're anywhere near the Smith Street Mall, we're here

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Speaker 2: till two o'clock, so pop by and say hi, oh, good.

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Speaker 1: Off, good on your race.

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Speaker 2: Thank you Mite, thanks so much.

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Speaker 1: Bye,