Our region is up their with the best when it comes to our volunteer participation rate.

According to the federal government's new State of Regional Australia report, the Western District has the third-highest volunteer rate among people aged 15 and older.

More than 27 per cent of residents give up their time for at least one group, which is more than all but two of Australia’s 88 rural areas with populations between 100,000 and 500,000.

Whether its parents in the school canteen, the weekend umpire on the football oval or our small town firefighters- south-west Victorians give up not only their time but their money and sometimes even their safety to help others.

They do not often receive thanks nor do they seek praise.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t express a simple thank-you once in a while. It is surprising how some of our community’s volunteers are overlooked because they have performed the same task for decades.

Many club secretaries, umpires and cleaners become fixtures of their local organisation with time eroding the impetus for acknowledgement.

Pat Zaunbrecher, who has volunteered at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village for 20 years, summed up the importance of volunteerism in a single sentence published in today’s edition of The Standard.

"The reality is without volunteers, society doesn’t function,” she said. Spot on Pat.

THOSE of a certain vintage (most aged over 40) remember Live Aid well.

When veteran rockers Status Quo took to the stage at Wembley Stadium in July 1985 to perform the opening number- Rocking All Over the World - it was the start of the biggest concert of all time.

Three decades on, the images of that day are imprinted on the minds of those that watched on television. 

Bob Geldof’s impassioned plea for party-goers to dig deep into the hip pockets, Queen whipping the crowd into a frenzy performing Bohemian Rhapsody and Phil Collins hopping onto a Concorde to fly across the Atlantic to perform at the Philadelphia concert.

The rock extravaganza raised more than £150 million for famine victims in Ethiopia ($400 million in Australian currency). 

However, the east African nation still suffers more than its fair share of heartache. Ethiopia’s population has more than doubled since 1985 yet the vast majority still live in appalling poverty.

That should not detract from Geldof and collaborator Midge Ure’s noble efforts.  However, on Live Aid’s 30^th anniversary, we need to remember that we in the West have an ongoing obligation to assist those in need.