Volunteer says it’s about the people you meet

Erica Duggan is Volunteer of the Month for December. Photo / Paul Brooks

Erica Duggan volunteers at Hakeke St Community Centre and Library, and loves it. She was nominated by manager Jane Bilderbeck, who said, among other things, “Erica has always been dedicated, reliable and passionate about what we do. Erica is now our senior volunteer and can always be relied upon to run the show when volunteers and staff are running short.”

Jane says Erica helps facilitate three groups for the centre — cards, craft and Steady As You Go.

She finishes with, “Erica has formed connections with many throughout our community and we couldn’t do what we do without people like her.”

For Volunteer of the Month, Volunteer Whanganui manager Sandra Rickey presented Erica with a certificate, a lapel badge and a $40 voucher from Mud Ducks Cafe. Mud Ducks has been sponsoring the voucher since Volunteer of the Month began in 2018.

“I’ve always done some form of volunteering once my children left home,” says Erica. She was in Waikato by the time the last had flown the nest and she started helping out with Pippins and Brownies. “I had been a Brownie and a Guide and lent a hand. Plus, my parents did decades of delivering Meals on Wheels. My mum got a certificate for serving 25 years volunteering for the blind. There was the example.

“So, I’ve always put my hand up.”

Erica left Whanganui at 17 to join the air force.

“I came back in the 1990s when I was freshly divorced. All my three children consider Whanganui home base ... and that’s thanks to my parents.”

Erica has been a teacher at Sacred Heart in Whanganui, and she has also taught in Rarotonga.

“I trained as a shorthand typist and bookkeeper, and those are the jobs I loved.” She found herself teaching Microsoft Office.

“When I went to Hakeke St Library, once I had retired, I must admit, I was in a very dark place. It was that morning I realised I had to get out of the house; although I love my dogs, they’re not much help when you’re really down. I walked into Hakeke St Library, Lizzie said something kind to me and I burst into tears. She mopped me up, listened to my story, convinced me that I wasn’t a terrible person, and from that point I started to get back into life. As soon as I was able I started giving more and more time.”

She says they play cards, learn crafts and have all sorts of people come along. People return books, no matter what Whanganui library they borrowed them from, and people can order books online.

She sees the centre as a healing place for those who, like her, arrive wounded and the worse for wear, and a place for some to enjoy the company of others.

“We accept people at face value.”

Erica has been volunteering there since November 2019.

The best thing about it? “The lovely people you meet. And 99 per cent of the people you meet you would not normally have met unless you had gone to Hakeke St Library. You find that actually you’ve got an awful lot in common ... all of us have come from different backgrounds and we’re in Whanganui because we love the place.

“[Hakeke St Library] is a wonderful place to have available, and, of course, it has all those books.”

She has made friends and they socialise together.