The Dungog Shire Community Centre found a special way to thank one of its workers for 20 years of helping out the community's most vulnerable members.
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When 64-year-old Nina Williams walked into the community centre on Friday, April 5 she was shocked to see an assortment of flowers and balloons celebrating her 20th anniversary of working there.
"I was shocked when I walked in. I did not expect the balloons and the flowers but it was lovely," Ms Williams said.
"I started to look at some of the comments on Facebook and it was just unbelievable how many people I've impacted in a positive way over the years. Some of those comments bring it home that this really does make a positive difference to people's lives."
Ms Williams began working at the Dungog Shire Community Centre in 2004 after doing work placement there for her community welfare certificate. During this she fell in love with the job.
She had been a part of the Dungog community for much longer, moving into the town at the age of 17.
"I first got involved with the community centre doing work placement and then I did voluntary work following that," she said.
"I lived local and it worked well. It was to learn about what's needed in the community and how we can support people in the community."
After finishing her work experience Ms Williams decided to stay at the community centre, working her way up to eventually work in the Dungog Services Australia Agency, helping the community navigate government agencies like Medicare and MyGov.
"It's about that connection that you have with the community where people feel it's an okay place to come and they know that I don't care whether they've got their life in a backpack or they drive a fancy car, I treat everybody the same. I think that's so important," she said.
Ms Williams said that one of the challenges of doing her job in a small community like Dungog is that everybody knows everybody. Because of this it's important that her clients know that their information is safe and that there are no judgements.
Throughout her time at the community centre, Ms Williams said that she found seeing the positive outcomes and impacts as the most enjoyable part of her job.
"It's about seeing someone who might come in and see everything is lost and can't see a way through it. When you can help them put those things in place and slowly empower them," she said.
Ms Williams said that the most frustrating part about her job is the lack of affordable housing.
"It's frustrating when you have someone who is or going to be homeless and knowing all the services are overwhelmed," she said.
