Willi Cabot – Emergency Services Volunteer Extraordinaire

Willi has been a volunteer for the Australian Red Cross for thirteen years, and has been bringing joy, intelligence and devotion to the Movement ever since. Strong member of the Emergency Services Team, she has contributed to countless different missions and served as several different roles, giving hours of her time to support her National Society.

Willi Cabot bursts into your life like fireworks. She is hilarious, warm, and straight to the point. Over the last 13 years Willi has brought, and continues to bring, her undeniable enthusiasm, intelligence and unwavering commitment to the Emergency Services Team, contributing 2625 hours of her personal time supporting communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters, not only in South Australia but in every state and territory across Australia.

In South Australia, Willi needs no introduction. Her commitment has seen her contribute as a Trainer, Group Facilitator, Team Leader, State Commander, Operations Officer, Logistics Officer, and throughout the COVID-19 response, including countless hours making welfare calls. Her extensive teaching background has been drawn upon across our response and resilience programming, training community members, volunteers and staff in Psychological First Aid, Train the Trainer, IMT and Emergency Redi.

She is also a self-confessed ‘mother hen’. Taking on a role as volunteer mentor and advocate, she drives initiatives to ensure that volunteers feel seen, heard and supported. Her leadership on the quarterly volunteer ‘coffee catch-ups’ has provided opportunities for Emergency Services volunteers to meet face to face, build connections and hear from guest speakers. As a Group Facilitator, she regularly touches base with volunteers ensuring they are well-informed, compliant and trained.

Her commitment to volunteering and Emergency Services goes further as she also volunteers with the Country Fire Service (CFS) as Captain of  the Mount Lofty Fire Tower Brigade.

And if this is not enough, Willi is the first person to put up her hand when there are ‘out of the ordinary’ requests. When our CEO sadly passed away, she was one of the volunteers who drove our people to the funeral, providing care and support along the way. When our current CEO visited Adelaide, she was there to drive him on an op-shopping tour, sharing insight, humour and always with a ‘what needs to be done’ attitude.

And finally, when asked how she would describe herself in one word, her response was ’indescribable’. She is certainly one of a kind and we are so lucky to have her as part of our Red Cross family.

Willi Cabot, Australian Red Cross