Thank you Val: Peter Mac's longest serving volunteer retires
12 February 2026
After 26 years of service, Peter Mac’s longest serving volunteer, Val, is retiring this week.
For more than two decades, she has been a familiar and much-loved presence on the wards, taking the lolly trolley from room to room.
Stocked with lollies, chocolate bars, and once upon a time stacks of newspapers, Val’s cart delivered more than just sugar fixes. It delivered connection.
“Just meeting people, really - patients and staff - that’s been the highlight,” Val says. “Most patients are happy to see you. Especially when you’ve got a sugar fix.”
But it’s the conversations she’ll be remembered for most. Whether chatting about hometowns across Victoria, swapping country stories, or simply offering a listening ear, Val made time for people.
Val began volunteering after her own cancer experience. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, she received radiotherapy at Peter Mac after surgery and chemotherapy elsewhere. By the end of that year, having completed treatment, she made a decision: if there was something she could do in return, she would.
And she did - catching buses and trains across Melbourne week after week to give back to the place that cared for her.
There has been a lot of change at Peter Mac in 26 years but Val has remained a constant - offering kindness, laughter and a steady presence to thousands of patients.
Peter Mac CEO Professor Jason Payne paid tribute to Val’s extraordinary contribution as the longest serving volunteer in the centre’s history.
“Val represents the very best of Peter Mac,” Professor Payne said.
“We thank her for her extraordinary commitment to Peter Mac and the kindness and care she has shown our patients, often during some of the most challenging moments of their lives.
“We wish her all the very best – she will be greatly missed.”
The volunteer team farewelled Val at a morning tea this week