NOT a day goes by in Australia without the sight of an SES volunteer dressed in their orange uniform responding at the scene of an emergency or natural disaster.
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It’s a hard colour to miss.
On Wednesday, May 23, the colour orange will be on-trend across Australia, as people say thanks to SES volunteers nationally as part of Wear Orange Wednesday, or WOW Day.
WOW Day is a day of recognition and appreciation of the 40,000 SES volunteers across the country.
It focusses on encouraging the community to express their gratitude to SES volunteers in a highly visible way - by wearing the colour orange.
NSW SES volunteers spend about 400,000 hours helping their communities in times of storms, floods and other emergencies and local residents are being encouraged to wear orange to recognise this massive effort.
With the help of NRMA Insurance, the NSW SES will celebrate WOW Day, encouraging schools, businesses, buildings and landmarks to go orange to support SES volunteers across Australia.
NSW SES Hunter Region Controller Stephen Hart said WOW Day was an opportune time to show support for local volunteers.
“This is a day when the dedicated work our volunteers do for the community, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is acknowledged in a very public way,” he said.
“Seeing people wearing orange and decorating their workplaces and communities is a great way to let our volunteers know they are appreciated for all the times they have been there for the community.”
NRMA Insurance Partnerships and Programs manager Jen Cobley said NSW SES volunteers were invaluable in helping NSW communities in times of storms, floods and other emergencies.
“We are proud to partner with the NSW SES to support volunteers and empower local communities to build resilience and protect themselves from severe weather,” she explained.
“WOW Day is a fantastic initiative to recognise SES volunteers and we encourage everyone to wear something orange to show their appreciation.”
Last year NSW SES volunteers responded to more than 32,000 requests for assistance.
Not only did they help people during storms and floods, but they also responded to road crashes, provided support to NSW Police on missing person searches and delivered remote and rural medical assistance through the NSW SES Community First Responder Units.
The NSW SES has in excess of 9000 volunteers across the state that come from all walks of life.
Volunteers range in age from 16 up to 90 and are involved in activities as diverse as flood rescue, large animal rescue, tarping roofs, clearing fallen trees, community education, operational logistics and planning, communications, and much more.
To find out how to become a NSW SES, volunteer go to https://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/get-involved/volunteer/
