I agree 200 per cent. I don't now how we could survive as a community without them. Across the Wingecarribee so many good people are doing so many 'good things'.

In my role as a manger of community engagement with community links wellbeing and also in my role as a councillor, I am always humbled by the level of of expertise, sacrifice, compassion and service our volunteers show to others.

People from all walks of life contribute so much in so many diverse area of service and as such make us a better and more humane society.

Your feature on the FOWAS is a classic example of selfless service. The devotion of these volunteers make the lives of our neglected and lost companion animals so much more bearable.

Since coming to council 19 years ago, I initially worked closely with Candy Raymond and the Friends of the Pound (FOP) to improve the care and respect for our abandoned animals and to reduce euthanasia rates.

This mantle was then taken up by FOWAS and people like Deborah Barnes, who has been there from the beginning. She is amazing and tireless in their efforts and in their capacity to "give". Of course there are many Deborah's out their working tirelessly in may areas of service in our shire. They are unsung and largely unappreciated.

Let us say thank you to you all, without you we would be a much poorer community.

I would also like to thank the Southern Highland News for reminding us of the invaluable and irreplaceable work that our volunteers do on our behalf. Thank you.

I write in response to the article, 'Accommodation slashed' published in Highlands Post on May 23, 2019.

Dignity is a hard-working and capable organisation that the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) funds to deliver support for homeless people.

Last year, Dignity advised FACS that they would be closing their operations in Goulburn and Queanbeyan as they were not viable due to high levels of vacancy.

In order to keep the service open, we worked with Dignity to find a solution, which was to prepay for rooms - around $1300 per night for 13 rooms. This was to see if that increased uptake.

However, two-thirds of the rooms were empty on average per night, meaning in effect, FACS was paying in excess of $300 per room, per night.

We extended this assistance for a further few more months but with the same result.

Ultimately, money for homeless people should not be spent on empty rooms - it should be spent on accommodating homeless people and that's why we took the decision to discontinue the funding.

The money that was being used to fund Dignity will now be redirected to other accommodation providers that will support homeless people in Goulburn and Queanbeyan.

It should be noted that FACS continues to fund Dignity to deliver supported Temporary Accommodation services in other parts of NSW.

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