Last year, on a cloudy Monday afternoon in October, thousands of people turned up at North Bondi to catch a glimpse of Nedd Brockman.

They were there to cheer on the twenty-three-year-old sparkie from Forbes in the last two hundred metres of his 3952-kilometre, 47-day run across Australia.

Once he’d finished, journalists peppered Brockmann with all sorts of questions. Did you ever think you wouldn’t finish? What’s the first thing you’ll do when you get home? How are the knees holding up?

The most important question of all, though, was why? Why run the equivalent of 270 City2Surfs in seven weeks? Why put yourself through hell?

The answer was simple: for charity.

Through almost 20,000 contributors, Brockmann raised $1.5 million for the homelessness charity, We are Mobilise.

In an interview a couple of years earlier, he explained what it meant to him:

“Every Tuesday, I was travelling into Ultimo to go to TAFE and I’d always see 10 or so homeless people doing it tough on the streets…it’s the most humbling experience. Your mindset changes and you feel like you’ve just got to help.”

This spirit – of giving back, looking out for others, and lending a hand – is a quintessentially Australian thing; mateship is unselfish, and it’s reciprocal.

The Bugle’s very strong view is that this spirit is alive and kicking in Kiama.

Indeed, it will be on full display this Sunday, when locals come together for the ninth annual Red Cross Fun Run to help raise funds for those in need.

The Bugle encourages all its readers to participate, whether that’s by running or walking the 5 kilometre, 9 kilometre, or 21 kilometre course – or lining the Coast Walk to cheer everyone on.

We should all take pride in the fact our community is home to a grand smorgasbord of grassroots organisations – Kiama Leagues, Kiama Masonic Club, Kiama SLSC, Lions Club, Probus, Rotary, and Kiama Community Radio to name just a few.

The philosopher Edmund Burke famously called community organisations like these the “little platoons” of society.

In other words, it’s not governments and councils that make communities tick, it’s people.

Grassroots organisations play a really important role in our community for a few reasons. They bring locals together, they give locals an opportunity to give back, and many of them are there to help when times are tough.

Right now – with yet another interest rate rise adding to the skyrocketing cost of living – these groups, and the support they offer, are more important than ever.

While it’s a bad thing that 15 per cent fewer Australians were volunteering in their community in 2020 compared to 2021, it’s a good thing that participation in community sport across the country is holding firm.

It was also heartening to see Deputy Mayor Imogen Draisma talk up the benefits of volunteering in The Bugle a couple of weeks ago, and advertise the good work of Kiama Council in putting on the first ever Volunteer Expo. There’s no doubt this was a worthwhile initiative.

It's The Bugle’s very strong view that, here in Kiama, the more locals who give back, the better.