By Jed Lanyon
Over 220 members from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints volunteered their time to assist the Yarra Valley heritage railway project on Saturday 23 March.
Members of the church were joined by volunteers from the Yarra Valley Railway and the local Men’s Shed.
Poor weather conditions did little to deter the workers as they estimated to have completed over 1000 hours of work on the day.
The service day saw many tasks completed at the Yarra Glen station including building restoration works, sorting reclaimed materials and line side cleaning
The railway project is now entering the next phase of its development as nine kilometres of tracks will be laid along the tourist journey between Yarra Glen and Healesville.
The church says that service days like these give members the opportunity to support and improve their communities and to follow the example of Jesus Christ in experiencing the joy that comes from helping others.
Steve Byrnes, a member of both The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Yarra Valley Railway was one of the key organisers for the day.
“I really enjoy it, I get a thrill every time I get involved and am pleased to see so many members of the church take up the invitation to come out and feel good about helping others,” he said.
The Yarra Valley Railway is solely run by volunteers and they are completing the largest volunteer infrastructure project in Australia.
Brett Whelan, Yarra Valley Railway President was thankful for the contributions from members of the church.
“We think it’s just fantastic how the church gives back to the community.
“For a community project as large as we are looking at, the amount of work is just mind blowing.
“We are able to do things that may seem too big a job for a handful of volunteers and we can just smash them out,” Mr Whelan said.
