Lindy Shaw
This week, we celebrate International Women’s Day at Calvary by featuring four inspirational women. Leading with kindness and vulnerability, volunteer coordinator Lindy Shaw is an example of a woman who has turned her personal experiences into strengths of being for others.
“The first time I met Lindy, she was a volunteer at Calvary Bethlehem and immediately impressed me with the way she was engaging with people as they faced their mortality. Through intuitive conversations, she added value and compassion to their days by highlighting special moments and achievements,” said Gayle Alexander, National Manager Mission Integration.
Fast forward from her start as a Calvary Volunteer in 2017 to joining as Volunteer Coordinator in 2021, Lindy Shaw is a remarkable demonstration of the intersection between vulnerability, strength, kindness, grief and never-ending positivity. After experiencing personal trauma and grief, instead of asking herself what illness looks like, she flipped the perspective and asked:
“What does wellness look like? How can we find it, at all stages in life, and particularly towards end of life? How can we bring meaning and perspective to our final days?”
For Lindy, the answer to this question is to get comfortable being uncomfortable – because it is in those moments of vulnerability that magic happens. She sees her role as her life purpose: Helping people find peace and meaning at the end of life by turning her own painful experiences into strengths of being for others.
What is your proudest achievement whilst working at Calvary?
“The quality of the volunteers we have,” she says without skipping a beat.
“I am so proud about how we’ve been able to find these incredible people who feel safe to do difficult work. It’s all about relationships, and the fact we’ve built trusting relationships with our volunteers mean that they are now doing more than they ever thought they could do when they first joined. They are remarkable.”
Which women inspire you the most, and why?
“Shannon Thompson (GM Calvary Kooyong), Alice Parkhill (Regional Director of Mission) and Gayle Alexander (National Manager Mission Integration), because they all lead with their hearts. They have the ability to see the whole person and have supported me to show up 100 percent as myself – which has given me the confidence to flourish as a volunteer coordinator. These women naturally live our values and being for others; they know that it’s how people feel at the end of the day that matters, whether that’s staff, volunteers or the families we care for.”
“With their support, I’ve been able to juggle my own grief with growing and cultivating a remarkable volunteer team that dares to sit in the uncomfortable and turn it into meaningful experiences.”
How are we embracing women and a gender equal workplace at Calvary?
“I don’t think gender has anything to do with what we do at Calvary or how we do it. We don’t take it into account, at least not in my experience. We’re nurses, doctors or councillors, not male or female. It’s the work we do that matters.
