Receiving one of the most honourable awards at the Australian Day celebrations last month Ron McCall was humbled to be the recipient of the Wally Hinschen Volunteer of the Year Award and, having known the award’s name-sake personally, this acknowledgment was even more meaningful.
Mr McCall’s volunteering spirit came from his own father, Coll McCall, who was always contributing for committees and raising money for different local causes.
For many years, Mr McCall would join his father and Wally Hinchen at the Palace Hotel in Proserpine selling raffle tickets every Friday night to raise money for the Proserpine Activity Therapy Centre for the Handicapped (PATCH).
“He was a great guy,” said Mr McCall when asked about Wally Hinschen.
Over the years, volunteering his time took Mr McCall on many adventures and introduced him to many people and social activities that he would not have otherwise encountered.
Giving his time to help with administration at sporting groups like the rugby and cricket, as well as the Parents and Citizens Association (P&C), Ron was an important cog in the machine that made everything run smoothly.
In 1993 he was acknowledged for his dedication when he received an Australian Day Award for achievement in sport.
A Boiler Operator at the Proserpine Sugar Mill for 38 years, Mr McCall still managed to find time to work as an Auxiliary Firefighter and spent 15 years, sacrificing his personal time to be on-call in the evenings and weekends.
He has also volunteered with the SES for the past four years and this will be his 10th year as Senior Crew for the Whitsunday Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) where he is regularly called out for emergencies.
Married to Wendy for almost 30 years, Mr McCall has three adult children and three grandchildren who all live locally.
Each year his extravagant Christmas display lights up the neighbourhood on Atkinson Street in Proserpine and for many years he was instrumental in a large Christmas street party which brought people together.
Last Christmas he won the Whitsunday Regional Council award for best Christmas Lights.
Enjoying his retirement but confessing he is barely home, Mr McCall remains an active member of the community, regularly volunteering at parkrun and on-call for other vital community services.
Volunteer of the Year, Ron McCall
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