Meeting new people, learning new skills and assisting struggling farmers is all part of the experience for Rural Aid Australia volunteers.
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Drought and bushfires have kept volunteers extremely busy in the past few years, with the Mid North Coast flood disaster in March only adding to the chaos.
Greg Dawes was the team leader for the recovery effort on the Polson family farm on Oxley Island last week.
He said volunteering time and manual labour was "a good way to give back to the community."
"We also learn a lot, we've learnt a lot about dairy farming here," Greg said.
"We've got people here who have done 15 to 20 different rescues over the years. We meet lots of people and enjoy it."
He said volunteers bring a wide range of skilled trades to recovery operations such as electrical and plumbing.
"We learn a lot of skills and we share them," Greg said. "Different people have different experiences."
Working in teams creates camaraderie.
"We're like a little family, we have 40 to 60 people moving from town to town and rescue to rescue," Greg said.
"We get to know each other and sit around the campfire at night."
Project coordinator Grant Miskimmin revealed the average age of a Rural Aid volunteer is 67.
"It's amazing what work they get done and it always amazes me just what we can achieve in that time," Grant said in relation to all volunteers.
"Here (Oxley Island) we're doing a recovery but other times we're helping small rural towns with sustainability.
"Most of them are 'grey nomads' and on the road permanently, some take a week off work so we get a whole range of people who come.
"These volunteers are worth their weight in gold."
Even the covid lockdown in 2020 didn't stop volunteers from lending a hand.
"We couldn't do some of the programs we were going to but we were lucky to do four towns last year through covid times," Grant said.
The charity has raised almost $300,000 for flood relief.
"We get funding from the mums and dads of Australia and through corporate sponsorship," Grant said.
Donations can be made at www.ruralaid.org.au/floods