By SONJA KOREMANS
TENTERFIELD is a small town with a big heart.
More than 100 residents from the town of 3000 are volunteers, some driving hundreds of kilometres a week to help out their community.
As the nation pats its Good Samaritans on the back to celebrate National Volunteers Week, Tenterfield Shire Council pitched in to say thanks to its philanthropic residents.
Dozens of volunteers turned up to a four-hour hotdog marathon in their honour last week, attended by Tenterfield Mayor Peter Petty and representatives from Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce’s office.
Council spokesman James Ruprai said school kids as young 17, and men and women in their eighties were among Tenterfield’s dedicated volunteers.
“The town’s volunteers deliver meals, visit the elderly, run the cinema, support the hospital, maintain parks and gardens and many, many other activities,” Mr Ruprai said.
They also assisted in running the Aboriginal Advisory, School of Arts, the Sir Henry Parkes Museum and the Tenterfield Theatre, he said.
“Volunteers travel in from all over the shire, some from up to 135 kilometres away.”
