Robyn Farmer, a patrol leader with Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club who helped treat victims during the December 2025 terror attack, has been named the 2026 Sydney City/Eastern Suburbs Volunteer of the Year. She received the region’s top volunteering honour in recognition of her emergency response on the day of the attack as well as her decades-long commitment to beach safety.
From beach patrol to emergency response
According to the Centre for Volunteering, Farmer was with a team of trainees when she put her lifesaving training into action, leading triage and providing advanced first aid to victims while supporting first responders.
Her regular role at Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club includes overseeing rescues and first aid, training lifesavers, developing education programs and coaching competition teams. The recognition comes months after volunteers and community organisations mobilised in response to the attack.
5,350 meals in 50 days
Another group with a direct connection to the aftermath, the COA Bondi Support Meals Team, was named the Sydney City/Eastern Suburbs Volunteer Team of the Year.
The team brought together 215 volunteers following the attack and delivered more than 5,350 meals over 50 days to victims, bereaved families and other community members experiencing trauma and acute distress.
Volunteers managed meal logistics and dietary requirements and worked with catering partners to provide practical support to families dealing with recovery and bereavement.
When the emergency became everyday support
Community information published following the attack also documented how the meal-support operation developed by late December.
In late December, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies advised that from December 29 COA would provide free kosher meals to people directly affected by the Bondi Beach attack, their families and anyone finding daily cooking difficult. Meals were available for delivery or collection.
COA already operated services in Sydney including a kosher Meals-on-Wheels program and other support for Jewish seniors.
COA entered the post-attack response with an established volunteer network and experience providing kosher Meals-on-Wheels and other services to Jewish seniors.
A loss felt inside the volunteer community
The organisation’s connection to the tragedy was also deeply personal.
Among those killed was Marika Pogany, who volunteered with COA for 29 years and delivered more than 15,000 meals to Jewish seniors. Pogany took time to know people on her delivery route, chatting and listening to them as well as delivering meals.
Her death meant the organisation responding to grieving families in the weeks after the attack was itself mourning the loss of one of its own volunteers.
Bondi volunteers now head to the state stage
The awards are in their 20th year and recognise volunteers and volunteer teams from regions across New South Wales.
Other regional recipients include Eastlakes teenager Ffyon McCabe, a volunteer with South Maroubra Surf Life Saving Club; Maroubra’s Tanya Coleman, from Randwick Netball Association; and Chippendale’s Susie Elelman, a volunteer with Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
The regional winners will be invited to a State Gala Award Ceremony in Sydney in December, where the NSW Volunteer of the Year recipients will be announced.
Published 11-Aug-2026
