For more than four decades Gerringong’s Shane Wicks has kept his beloved community safe as a volunteer surf lifesaver, fire brigade member and medical support officer.

Earlier this week, as part of the Australia Day honours, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the community through emergency response organisations.

He is among thousands of volunteers across NSW who give up their time to make their communities a better place.

If you live in Gerringong, chances are he has come to the rescue of you or someone you know as a life member of Gerringong Surf Life Saving Club and Rural Fire Brigade.

Wicks got his first taste of community service at the tender age of eight as a nipper at Gerringong SLSC, and as soon as he was old enough he began voluntarily patrolling the region’s beaches.

The recently retired paramedic is now the Surf Life Saving NSW South Coast Branch president and is mentoring nippers across the region to become future community heroes.

Wicks also serves as the medical support officer for the Gerringong Lions Rugby League Club.

Like surf lifesaving, he joined the footy club as a junior and was always the first to put his hand up to help out.

In 1990, as a 15-year-old, he joined the NSW Rural Fire Service after a school teacher piqued his interest.

And like his beloved surf and footy clubs, has remained a dedicated community volunteer, serving as the Gerringong Rural Fire Brigade captain for several years before becoming the Shoalhaven RFS operations manager, a job he juggles with volunteering.

Wicks knows firsthand the importance of volunteers - they are the glue holding together communities and few places can claim stronger social cohesion than Gerringong.

“I grew up in Gerringong,” said the 50-year-old. “I want to be able to give back to my community and I’’m passionate about training other people with my paramedicine background.

“It’s an honour to be able to pay that knowledge forward to the next generation of young people.”

Wicks says the average patrol hours a season in the South Coast Branch is 50 hours.

“At city clubs that drops to 20-30 hours because of the sheer number of clubbers to draw from.

“Regional lifesavers give up a lot of their time volunteering and it’s a big ask but the social cohesion and skills they learn are invaluable.”

While he has saved many lives through dramatic fire, flood and water rescues, his proudest moments have been watching young people thrive and find a sense of purpose through volunteering.

When the Gerringong community was left heartbroken after several young people took their own lives in 2020 at the peak of the pandemic, people like Wicks stepped up.

He was part of the Gezza Cares community-led support network for young people, wrapping those impacted by mental health and suicide in a collective hug.

Wicks continues to be an advocate and spokesperson for Gezza Cares and was instrumental in mobilising the community to adorn trees, letterboxes and gates with yellow ribbons and hearts in 2020 to raise awareness about mental health and the devastating impact of suicude.

He cites his role as a mentor to the town’s young people, through surf lifesaving, the football club and fire brigade, as an honour and says passing on the legacy of community service to the next generation is an even bigger win than his prestigious OAM.

Asked if there’s anything he doesn’t do, he jokes “my wife says I don’t clean the house”.

But he might just get a leave pass while he continues to save lives and mentor the next generation of young people to take up community service so the older crew “can eventually hand over the reins and retire”.