Community
22 May, 2026
Giving time everywhere
CAMPERDOWN Lions Club member Judi Oakes has reflected on many years of service to the community as this week marks National Volunteer Week.
Mrs Oakes joined the Lions club in November 2000 alongside her husband Wayne after he was invited to join the club at a dinner.
She said she made the decision to sign up as she didn’t want to be at home alone – with her children also heavily involved in the community.
“We both got involved quite a bit at the local club level – my husband was treasurer and I’ve been president several times, and I’m actually going to go for president for the 2026-2027 year,” Mrs Oakes said.
“I’ve done heaps of things in Lions.
“I’ve been to conventions overseas such as in Japan, Chicago, Hawaii and Los Angeles – it’s been a good learning curve, meeting other people from different nationalities and learning about their projects and how their clubs survive.
“My husband and I became involved in a camp for international students when they came to Victoria for the final week of their six-week stay.
“We had them come from Europe, America, Canada, India and even two boys from Mongolia – that got me interested in my Mongolian trip back in December-January.”
As a Lion, Mrs Oakes has been very busy in the community, from being a part of the club’s cooking team once a term for the Uniting Church Community Meal to helping to change smoke alarm batteries for residents – the latter of which has been taken over by the Camperdown Country Fire Authority (CFA) brigade.
She said she enjoyed the connections she has made through Lions, both between members and the community.
“We were having a weekend away where we would go away on a Friday night, come home on a Sunday and just do different activities in a town or locality – COVID-19 interrupted that as well, and we’ve been trying to get it back on track,” Mrs Oakes said.
“We’ve been heavily involved in our local schools and doing things – we support different people when we hear of an issue.
“That’s what I love – we have the connection with the community and, because we are so well-known in the town, if there are any issues people come along and knock on the door and ask us for help.
“People know they can call on us – sometimes it might just be an elderly lady who can’t move her heavy rubbish bin, so we’d get a call and someone will go out and fix it up for them and drag it back the next morning.
“We are, sadly, limited with what we can do, but we do try to help wherever possible.”
The Camperdown Lions Club is not the only way Mrs Oakes has contributed to the community – she has engaged with the local community in a variety of other ways.
“Back in 2019, when we had the big bushfires in Cobden, I coordinated 28 cooking teams over a period of nine months when BlazeAid was down there,” she said.
“We used to provide two-course meals for the workers when they came in at night – we used to roster people on and I had to make sure there was always a cooking team.
“At the moment I’m also involved in cooking with kids with the primary school.
“Once a term, we cook with a little group of students, just teaching them the basics such as how to make sausage rolls, Anzac biscuits and other little things like that.
“The little team from the Uniting Church get a really good buzz out of it and the kids love it – they can’t wait to get to the church hall, into the kitchen to wash their hands and start cooking.”
As an active member of the Camperdown Uniting Church, Mrs Oakes was the driving force behind a cooking team from the church for the community meal.
“I also produce the local church newsletter in conjunction with another lady at church – we also make sure people are connected within our church community through that newsletter,” she said.
“I guess I’ve dabbled in quite a few things over the years.
“I just love doing things and helping people – I’m pretty easy-going and I have fun doing it.”
Other local activities Mrs Oakes has volunteered her time for include acting as a model for the Bookaar Cricket Club’s two fundraising fashion parades and working as a volunteer at the Sunnyside House op shop.
Mrs Oakes said she has also given her time overseas to help those in need, travelling to Vanuatu with her sister and brother-in-law two years ago.
“We went over to do a build for a missionary over there, and that was fun,” she said.
“It was around the time Air Vanuatu went belly-up, so our two weeks turned into three weeks.
“I’ve never worked so hard in my whole life – dragging lumber and all sorts of things around, hammering and whatever else.
“You learn a lot when you go away with a lot of builders – they teach you plenty of things.
“We also had a bit of a holiday – the team we went with had a gentlemen who goes over quite regularly, so he knew all the ins and outs of Vanuatu and where we were.”
Mrs Oakes has a keepsake of her time volunteering in Vanuatu, having had a photo book printed featuring photos of her at work on the missionary project.
In addition to personal keepsakes, Mrs Oakes has been recognised for her volunteer work through a Melvin Jones award – the top award in Lions for service to the community and the organisation – and a community award from the Corangamite Shire for her work through Lions and BlazeAid.
Mrs Oakes encouraged anyone thinking about volunteering to get out and do it.
“One, it gets you out of the house,” she said.
“Two, you make friends.
“Three, you connect with your community and four, the community benefits.
“That’s probably the best advice I can give anyone.
“Quite often people say ‘I’m too busy’, ‘I’m too old’ or ‘I’m not interested’, but you really need to have a look at something in the community that might pique your interest – whether it’s joining a service club or just volunteering at the local op shop.”
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