By Muffy Ali
There’s a particular kind of person who never asks for recognition. The caseworker who stays back after hours. The volunteer who shows up every week for years. The not-for-profit worker who remembers your name long after the file is closed. And then there are the everyday people, not volunteers, not professionals, just locals who spot a problem in their community and quietly go and fix it.
My new local podcast, Beyond the Surface, is on a mission to make sure all of these people are celebrated in the way they deserve, while they’re still here to hear it.
I’ve been on the receiving end of kindness for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my family had a revolving door of organisations stepping in to help, and one relationship in particular changed the course of my life: my caseworker, Debbie. Nearly 20 years on, she’s still part of my life, and I genuinely believe things would look different for me if she hadn’t stepped in when she did.
That’s the belief behind this podcast. We too often wait until someone has passed to properly celebrate what they mean to us. I want to do it now, while they’re still with us.
Today I’m a small business owner, running Miski House of Beauty in Yarraville, and through my work I get to hear amazing stories from locals, the ones who never make headlines but quietly hold this community together.
My first episode spotlights the West Welcome Wagon, a local organisation that helps settle refugees and supports asylum seekers rebuilding their lives. It’s incredible, often unseen work that runs almost entirely on volunteers and community donations. I sat down with Fay Salem-Demezieres, the group’s Operations and Community Engagement Coordinator, for a conversation about kindness, resilience, and the humans rebuilding their lives right here in the West.
It won’t just be organisations, either. Coming up, I’m speaking with Jason, who started Footscray Friends and Dining after finding himself lonely. Outside his day job, he now brings people together once a month at a different local venue. No committee, no funding, just one bloke solving a community problem.
If you’d like to nominate someone, an organisation, a volunteer, or just an ordinary person doing something kind, get in touch via @beyondthesurface on Instagram, where I’ll also share sneak previews and behind-the-scenes snippets from the podcast. Or you can contact me via coolpeople.kindthings@gmail.com
