WA Volunteers of of the Year!
Niki and Alex Gibson have been recognised as St John WA’s metro volunteers of the year – the first time that this honour has ever been awarded to a couple!
Niki was a founding staff member of St Stephen’s School, beginning at Duncraig in 1984 and rounding out her time in 2012 at Carramar, and continues to work relief there to this day. “I love the kids up there. I know them and I really enjoy it”, said Niki.
Once Niki moved across to the Carramar Campus she was asked to run the first Year 10 work experience program, and from there she transitioned to running the Vocational Education and Training program and doing career counselling for the first graduating classes of Carramar.
This was an aspect of her time at St Stephen’s School that Niki particularly enjoyed. “I really loved VET and careers. I was so interested in what kids wanted to do and what the horizons held for them,” said Niki.
After years of being involved in our school, and in their community hockey team, when it came time for Niki and Alex to think about leaving full-time work they began making plans to volunteer.
“We chose volunteering activities that we were interested in to try before retirement, and since we retired, we’ve stuck with St John and Rottnest Island Volunteer Guides”
Daughter, Claire and her husband Daniel Forsdyke had long been involved in St John’s. “Claire was the Chief Nursing Officer for St John volunteers when it first started in WA and she used to nag us about joining, which we finally did and we’ve been volunteering for almost 17 years,” laughed Niki.
Alex and Niki are part of the Morley Division and work across multiple areas in St John including Logistics, Community Transport and You
th and Community work.
“We’re very proud of being Morley Division people. There is such camaraderie. It’s like a family”.
“We both do youth and community First Aid Awareness which involves going to events to demonstrate how to do correct CPR, snakebites and bandaging as well as getting children into the ambulance to make them feel comfortable. This year we even worked the Teddy Bears Picnic for 7000 kids!”
Niki has brought the same kindness and compassion that made her one of the most well-loved teachers in St Stephen’s School history to her role as a volunteer, so it’s no surprise that she and Alex were acknowledged with the 2023 Volunteer of the Year award.
She’s very modest about this achievement, though. “It was a bit embarrassing, really. There are so many people that do amazing things. I think we were recognised because we work across more than one function in St John.”
Niki and Alex love volunteering and are kept incredibly busy with a raft of events each week, but they both get a great deal out of the work. “I love meeting people, and at St John you meet such interesting people, and it gives us a real sense of fulfilment. It does more for us than it does for others,” said Niki. “You don’t have to have a medical background … you just need to like being with people and talking to them and it grows from there. St John gave us all the training”.
Niki and Alex are also being honoured as part of this year’s International Volunteer Day Garden Party in December at Government House
where volunteers around the state come together for a milestone event hosted by Volunteering WA.
When Niki and Alex aren’t volunteering, they spend time with their family. Their three children, Claire, Sean and Craig all went to St Stephen’s School,
and they now even have two grandchildren at our school – Charlotte in Year 5 and Lachlan in Year 2 – so are familiar faces at many Duncraig Campus events.
We wish Niki and Alex every happiness and thank them for their contribution to our School community over many years.