Warrnambool's Margaret Shimmin (left) and Camperdown's Judy Webber have been honoured by Vision Australia for their decades of voluntary work.
WHAT'S one of the trickiest parts of reading the newspaper for the vision impaired?
The pronunciation of names given to newborns, says Margaret Shimmin.
Mrs Shimmin began co-ordinating the Warrnambool talking news service 25 years ago and hasn't looked back.
"Modern Christian names of babies can be tricky," she confessed.
"You just need to read clearly and pronounce the consonants."
Yesterday, at a special morning tea, Vision Australia thanked its 150 volunteers in the south-west region.
Mrs Shimmin was recognised for her 25 years and said she had no plans to stop. "Someone asked me to do it and I thought 'why not?'," she said.
" ... You're doing something for someone else. I think it would be horrible to be visually impaired."
Volunteers read the news which is recorded on a tape and posted to visually impaired people in the region.
Robin Hyde, Annette Gardner and Judy Webber were also recognised for 20 years of volunteering with Camperdown talking news.
Vision Australia volunteers co-ordinator Dedy Friebe said the work of volunteers was improving the quality of life for visually impaired people.
"These volunteers are the most important resource Vision Australia has," he said.
"If it wasn't for these volunteers then there are services which we wouldn't be able to provide."
As part of National Volunteers Week, member for South West Coast Denis Napthine announced that Hawkesdale College, Warrnambool College and Warrnambool Special Developmental School would receive funding for students to volunteer in the community through the state government's $4.5 million Advance program.
"This program will encourage young people to get involved in their community and learn new skills as well as strengthening local partnerships between schools and local community organisations and services," Dr Napthine said.
He said students from Warrnambool College are volunteering at Lifeline, and collecting secondhand goods for the Lifeline shop while another group is raising funds to purchase new children's books for Lifeline to distribute to needy families.