Carmen Gatt Buchs has a hard time convincing volunteers, who work on the sidelines and away from any glamour, to speak about what they do. Like the many others offering their time and help to those in need, they may not be in the limelight – and most don’t even want to be – but they are the real heroes, who deserve all the praise and admiration they can get.

Several studies have revealed that when people stop thinking about their personal problems and focus on someone else instead, their stress levels eventually decrease, their immune system strengthens, and their sense of life satisfaction improves.

How can this be true? Helping and giving to someone else has been proven to interrupt tension-producing patterns, replacing them with positive emotions, increased self-confidence levels and a sense of purpose.

Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless- Sherry Anderson, Canadian athlete

Although due to our busy lives and schedules it can be hard to find time to offer others help, the benefits of giving are manifold, not only for the volunteers themselves, but also for their family and community. Most of all, however, volunteering provides vital help to those in need, worthy causes, the environment and society in general.

People choose to volunteer for various reasons. For some, it is an opportunity to develop new skills, to keep them mentally stimulated and physically active, to help them find new friends, to build on existing experience and knowledge, or even to advance in their career. For others, it offers the chance to give something back to the community, or make a difference to the people around them. But regardless of the motivation, what unites these volunteers is that they find it both challenging and rewarding.

In Malta, there are various non-profit organisations and foundations that offer help to children and adults with mental and physical disabilities as well as other social, financial and domestic problems. And it is thanks to the many volunteers, who offer their time and help without getting paid or expecting anything in return, that these organisations can survive.

Here are three women who, without being in the spotlight, are making a significant difference to the lives of those they help.

Saying thank you

After undergoing several operations at St Luke’s Hospital, Mary Fisher’s husband Geoffrey felt the need to do something in his spare time to say ‘thank you’. And what better way than offering to give a helping hand?

That is how he started doing voluntary work nine years ago and this inspired Mary, 78, to join him a few years later.

Having returned to Malta to retire in Mellieha after spending 40 years in the UK, she has now been doing voluntary work for the past four years at SOS Malta, which assists people through projects of a social and charitable nature and provides assistance to the poor to help improve their life quality.

VolServ is an SOS Malta service in partnership with the Ministry for Health, the Elderly and Community Care, which aims to develop and organise voluntary health services to support patients and relatives at Mater Dei and recently also at Mount Carmel.

Twice a week, Mary dedicates her time to the Psychiatric Ward in Mater Dei and also at Mount Carmel. Together with her husband, she spends one morning organising baking lessons and the other doing crafts. Patients with psychological or psychiatric problems enjoy getting involved as this puts their minds off their difficulties for at least a few hours.

Doing voluntary work also gets Mary out, helps her to socialise and keeps her active. Helping others also gives her a boost. She finds it especially rewarding when patients who could previously hardly put their heads up eventually improve and start integrating with others. These patients are also very grateful and so it is satisfying for Mary to know that she contributed to the benefit of others.

She finds it especially rewarding when patients who could previously hardly put their heads up eventually improve and start integrating with others

It is always personally fulfilling for her to know that the effort and energy she puts into her voluntary work was worth her while.

Unfortunately, however, in Malta there is still a stigma related to mental health and this needs to be removed by educating the public, Mary feels. She stresses that one should remember that anybody could have such problems, irrespective of job, background and age.

Mount Carmel also desperately needs to improve its facilities to offer a more positive environment to both its patients and employees – so it is encouraging for Mary to know that plans to refurbish the building and wards and upgrade its facilities are in the pipeline.

Getting satisfaction out of giving

Joan Micallef is a 75-year old widow who has lived in Malta for 24 years. Having previously worked for a charity and done fundraising in the UK, until recently, she dedicated two half days a week, and even more when needed, to a charity shop in Valletta that sells used goods donated by the public as well as new items given by generous shop owners.

This is one of the many ways in which the Inspire Foundation, that works tirelessly with children and adults with disabilities, raises money – through its charity shops that sell used, vintage and sometimes donated brand-new stuff around Malta and Gozo. They contribute to the much-needed funds required by the foundation throughout the year.

Being very open and gregarious, volunteering offered Joan the possibility to socialise and interact with various customers who’d come to browse through her shop. It also gave her satisfaction to know that she was helping persons with disability and contributing to the organisation.

Joan enjoyed going to the shop regularly and preferred it when it was busy. Her wish was always to be able to exhibit the goods in the shop in a more eye-catching way, so they would appeal to more people who would then buy them or donate to Inspire.

A drive to help

Anna Montfort, 57, lives in Mellieha and is a housewife and mother of two daughters who live with their families in the UK. Although she is often very busy, Anna has offered to pick up patients from their home using her own car and to drive them to the Hospice in Balzan. She does this every Tuesday, but when necessary, also offers extra drives on other days.

It makes her feel good to see patients happy and to feel that she is contributing to the community

Hospice Malta is a voluntary organisation that provides and promotes the highest standards of palliative care for persons with cancer, motor neurone disease, end-of-life respiratory, cardiac, renal and liver disease. It also aims to help and support the patients’ families.

Anna’s motivation to volunteer for Hospice is the satisfaction this gives her. In fact, she has been driving patients for the last 12 years after being inspired by a friend and her own daughter who did voluntary work abroad.

She admits that it makes her feel good to see patients happy and to feel that she is contributing to the community. However, she also has upsetting moments, such as when people she knows pass away. An incident that remains imprinted in her memory is when a woman who seemed so positive and at peace with herself passed away suddenly.

Although she has to wake up very early in the morning to drive patients, Anna is happy to do so. Otherwise, they would be stuck at home, she says. These patients really enjoy going to Hospice to learn new crafts, meet similar people and spend time interacting with each other, she reveals.

However, she also adds that there should be more awareness regarding the need for more volunteers because such people are indispensable.

This article first appeared in Pink magazine.