District 10 steps up to the challenge

The winning CFA team ‘Women of Wellington PoW WoW’ finished second in the state

 

District 10 stepped up to the challenge, with one of its teams making it to the number two spot in the state for Steptember 2023.

 

Acting ACFO Aaron Worcester challenged CFA volunteers to put forward a team, and 21 groups in District 10 nominated for the event. An unexpected benefit to this was the incredible camaraderie, banter and engagemen behind the scenes on the Members' Facebook Group.

This online engagement kicked off with SER Volunteer Sustainability Team’s Regional Manager Lisa Peters who started a STEPtember selfie thread, which had more than 175 comments by the end of the month.

There was a flood of photos and comments including that of ACFO Worcester’s legs as proof he was taking part in the challenge, photos of those caught up in floods, fire and even hospital or injuries, photos of the furry friends helping get members' steps up, and beautiful scenery shots.

But in the end, it was five women, the ‘Women of Wellington PoW WoW’ team, that came in on top with 2,702,303 steps, giving them the second highest count in the state for CFA. The team, which included Team Captain and Willung South Captain Dawn Wood, Golden Beach Captain Paula Grosveld, Munro Captain Esther Dekkers, Woodside Secretary Fiona Quinlan and South East Region VST member Sandie Brown all agreed that their success was all thanks to their “older girls power”. But admittedly, they explained they were also driven to work together, ensuring their claim on the prize – a box of Big Bears Donuts – was secured.

After scores were announced, Dawn posted in the Facebook Group to say everyone “should all be proud of yourselves joining in the fun and giving it a go.

“It shows what District 10 can do and how we all work together. We are a great district. We have a fantastic team and I'm proud to be part of it.”

The team photos were also a highlight of the Facebook Group, including recreated movie posters, devouring donuts, and some other great photos of volunteers coming together for this great cause and challenge.

South East Region VST Sandie Brown was thrilled with the support for this challenge, and recognised the benefit of engagement with volunteers throughout the process.

“We used the Facebook Group to disseminate information, posting important community education, seasonal and operational updates to ensure we can reach more people through their preferred communication preferences,” she said.

“So to see the target audience, our members, engage in banter, commentary and fun happening behind the scenes has been incredible. It was certainly a highlight of this year’s challenge.

“Watching the comments, photos and conversations between our members with a healthy competitive drive was a lot of fun to be a part of, even if it did push some of us to our step limits and beyond.

“We are extremely lucky to have such great support from all our volunteers, and we thank them for this commitment to the STEPtember Challenge.”

Across the 21 teams, District 10 recorded 34,056,712 steps.

 

Submitted by	Olivia Duffey