Three decades of volunteering has led to a happy, healthy life for Sandra Byak
Anyone who’s done a Saturday afternoon visit to the Chatswood Vinnies shop would recognise the friendly face of Sandra Byak. At 83, Sandra has been volunteering at the store on Victoria Avenue for more than 31 years. “I’m loving it, I don’t want to give it up,” she says. “I’m going to do it for as long as I can.”
The long-time Chatswood local first signed on to volunteer at the store, run by the St Vincent de Paul Society, when the youngest of her four children finished school. “I’m Christian and we were always told that we need to help others,” Sandra says.
Initially she started out doing jobs like tidying up and folding mountains of towels and sheets to ‘make it really beautiful,’ and now you can catch her behind the counter, where she enjoys chatting with ‘all kinds of people.’
During her years at the shop, Sandra has made many friends, and saw the premises undergo a new fit-out which was completed last year. “I had customers say, ‘The shop’s changed, but not the person behind the counter,’” Sandra laughs.
The grandmother of nine has kept on volunteering through her own life changes, juggling it with her work in childcare, retirement, and caring for her own mother who has since passed away.
Sandra was recognised for her three decades of service to Vinnies in 2024, receiving a nomination for Senior Volunteer of the Year in the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards.
But it’s not the first nomination she’s received from The Centre for Volunteering. Sandra also helps Meals on Wheels twice a week, delivering food to people’s homes; and lends a hand to the Willoughby Council linen service, for which she was nominated at the North Shore volunteer awards ceremony in 2019. “We go with clean sheets and towels to people’s homes,” she says of the linen service for vulnerable and elderly Willoughby Council residents. “We strip their bed, change the sheets and leave them towels.”
Sandra recommends volunteering to everyone, no matter their age. “I’m active and I’m busy. I hardly ever go to the doctor. I don’t want to be sitting down and watching TV,” she says, explaining that she’d rather give her time to charity work. “It’s a huge part of my life being a volunteer.
“I’m getting more out of it than what I put in. It’s the best thing I’ve done in my life.”
To volunteer, visit: vinnies.org.au