Today we are wishing all our members who are mums, and mums of members a happy Mother’s Day, including Canterbury Unit Commander Lenore who is pictured with her Senior Deputy Unit Commander Chris – who just so happens to be her son!
Lenore has been a volunteer for 38 years with the NSW SES and enjoys meeting people from different backgrounds, building long-last relationships and the flexibility.
As a Unit Commander and mother, Lenore is proud of the opportunities the NSW SES is providing for mums, “We see ourselves as a family unit – all three of my kids were born into the SES. If I was there, they were there, too.”
In addition to donning the hat of incident controller and ensuring that operations, logistics and planning are running smoothly, Lenore also makes it a priority to check in on the welfare of her team.
“I’m sometimes called the ‘mother hen’ of the unit because I always make sure that they’re OK and tell them to get changed into dry clothes when they return in their wet uniforms.”
To all the mums who are thinking about joining the NSW SES, Lenore’s advice is simple: “Give it a go! Go and talk to someone at your local unit and have a chat to see if we can accommodate your own situation. Even a couple of hours every few weeks will make an enormous difference.”
