Hurstville Community Egg Trail 2022

The VA was invited to participate in the Eggsville Community Art Trail for 2022 & create an art piece (that represented the Association and our members ) which was then painted on to a large egg shape and displayed throughout Hurstville CBD and Westfield Hurstville from 14 April – 1 May 2022. There are 11 other egg designs displayed from various community groups throughout Sydney and we encourage you all to bring the family down, follow the egg trail & enjoy fun activities along the way & cast a vote for your favourite egg design.

• What makes your organisation an essential part of the community?
  
  The NSW SES Volunteers play a vital role in ensuring our communities are safe 365 days a year no matter what the event or crisis. These are the amazing selfless people who dedicate their time and often put their own lives on the line to help others. They do it purely out of the goodness of their hearts and that's what I believe makes a true here. 
  
  The Volunteers association is important in ensuring the volunteers are supported and here to help in any way we can. Our Board members and staff are also NSW SES Volunteers hence our slogan "volunteers supporting volunteers"
  
  Thousands of people have been impacted by the current flood events we have been experiencing over the last month and these included many of our members - thanks to the generosity of our community we have been able to provide our flood affected members with much needed welfare packs and welfare assistance. OUr member support team has travelled far and wide throughout NSW to ensure they were received asap .
  
  This was also the case during the 2019 - 2020 Bushfire crisis. 
  
  We have a strong focus on mental health and have been providing mental health first aid courses for our volunteers free of charge and also provide our members with access to mental health support services when necessary.
  
  
• What does your design represent 
  I wanted to use images that were easily identifiable to the public and that represented our Association and the NSW SES Volunteers.
  
  At the top our egg I have included an image to represent our First Nations people. The map of Australia  is filled with the aboriginal flag and dot art work surrounding the image along with our eat sleep respond brand in text. When operational, often for long periods of time, our volunteers do just that - eat, sleep, respond to emergencies and repeat.  
  
  We are an inclusive Association and welcome all NSW SES Volunteers. We have thousands of members who come from all walks of life and we treat all our members equally. This is why I have included the pride and diversity colours on our egg to represent our diverse range of volunteers.  
  
  Paddy platypus is a mascot of the SES Volunteers and is often used at road crash rescue scenes to comfort distressed children. Paddy is also used at events and community engagement activities.  
  
  I have drawn a  large image of a NSW SES Volunteer - These are the selfless, dedicated individuals who work tirelessly 365 days a week to ensure our communities are safe. Whatever the event or disaster, it is our volunteers in orange who are out in force during the crisis and also through the often long recovery process. When they are not operational, they are involved in educational and community engagement events.  
  
  I have also listed a number of attributes on the flag that Paddy platypus is waving that describe the amazing people that commit to volunteering & are first responders. 
  
  The flood rescue image is relevant to events happening now - we have been in the middle of a major flood event for a number of weeks now and seen the devastation many of our communities have endured. Our SES Volunteers have been extremely busy with flood rescue - saving families and their pets from flood affected areas and ensuring they are taken to safety.