Albany Creek’s Max Sunley, a retired carpenter, has found happiness in donating his time and skills to help charities. After retiring, he has been helping Guide Dogs Queensland (GDQ) for three years now. He is using his carpentry skills to help keep GDQ’s Bald Hills headquarters in top shape.
“I’ve been retired for about five years now, and after coming to one of the open days with my wife I picked up some paperwork on volunteering and thought why not give it a go? … I do all the odd building jobs around the place like fixing gates, installing cupboards, or replacing light bulbs, and I enjoy that. Every day is different here,” Mr. Sunley said.
What is Guide Dogs Queensland?
GDQ was established in 1960 as an organisation that helps blind and vision-impaired Queenslanders gain freedom, independence, and mobility. It is the only service provider in Queensland that offers a complete range of rehab service to help the Queenslanders live full and active lives.
Guide Dogs QLD is known for providing free Guide Dogs services to the people they help. Guide dogs are assistance dogs that have been trained to lead blind people around obstacles. These therapy animals offer positive effects on psychological, social, and physiological aspects of the people they guide, along with confidence, friendship, and security.
Actually, that’s just a part of what they do. Here are some of the other things that GDQ can do.
- Guide Dog training and placement;
- White Cane training;
- Electronic Travel Aid training;
- Community and professional education workshops;
- Special mobility programs for children; and
- Counselling by their own staff psychologists.
Support Group for Vision Impaired People – Albany Creek
Mr. Sunley directly volunteers at the GDQ headquarters in Bald Hills. There is no regional office located in Albany Creek, but the Albany Creek Support Group Vision for Impaired People is affiliated with GDQ. This is a self-help group for the blind and vision impaired people in the Albany Creek community that provides support, shares useful and vital info, and organises activities.
“Guide Dogs is a very valuable organisation and there’s a really nice bunch of people that work here …” Mr. Sunley said.
Learn more about how you can volunteer by visiting the Guide Dogs QLD official website.
