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Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast—your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade.
Whether you're a seasoned member or just getting started, we're here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries, and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of the Bartercard ecosystem.
BC_Episode 6 Glen Norris
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Host: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Barter Edge Podcast, your insider guide to smarter business, bigger networks, and better ways to trade. We are here to share real stories, expert tips from different industries and fresh ideas to help you grow your business using the power of Bartercard . Well, welcome to another episode of The Barter Edge.
Many of you may not realize that we have partnered with some amazing charities and today we are going to be talking to Glen from Volunteer Marine Rescue in Southport, and we are really proud to have partnered with them for the amazing things that they do. They provide 24 7 marine rescue assistance to the boating public on a volunteer basis.
And we all know up here on the Gold Coast, especially how important, you know, a lot of us spend a lot of time out on the water and what you do is literally saving lives multiple times a year. So Glen, would you like to introduce [00:01:00] yourself and tell us a little bit more about what you do?
Norris: Okay. So my name's Glen Norris.
I'm the President of Volunteer Marine Rescue Southport. So I've been with the organization for almost 30 years. And for more than 25 years of that we've been associated with Bartercard . So the company's been a wonderful sponsor and supporter of Marine Rescue Southport, and we're very proud to be involved.
And thank you very much for inviting us here to be part of this production and, we'd just like to tell you a little bit about what we do. So we're a 24 hour seven day marine rescue service to the boating public of the Gold Coast. So we rescue people who get into trouble in their boats, flat batteries run outta fuel capsize in the seaway or broad water areas.
People who have vessels that sink. We help 'em to, to pump those vessels out. Small vessels, of course. We also provide service to the Queensland Police Service and the Queensland Ambulance Service with transporter paramedics to medical situations in our area. So we're a big organization.
We have approximately [00:02:00] 140 active members, which is made up of about 85 crew members who man the rescue vessels. We have another 45 radio operators who can jointly provide their services at our rescue base at Main Beach and also at the Seaway Tower, which is at the end of the South Port spit. So, they provide a service daily to people who, transverse, the Gold Coast who come and go from the Gold Coast Seaway. So you can log your you can log your voyage details with them and they'll happily make sure that you come back. It's a wonderful service. The Gold Coast can't do without it. We've got a lot of support from a lot of people.
A lot of people, a lot of businesses such as yourself, and we're very proud of what we've done for the last 56 years.
Host: So what would be the most common call out that you get?
Norris: Okay, so we predominantly get people who have fuel issues, which generally means I've run outta fuel. All right? So, everybody has an excuse from the fuel gauge, doesn't work to somebody else, didn't fill it up or whatever.
So, we've noticed this since the covid years of a few years ago. Since [00:03:00] then, everybody goes out, put a bit of fuel in there and go out and it's never enough. And we tend to, to a lot of people home who just run out.
Host: Well, time does go very quHebbickly when you're out on the water, that's for sure.
I know that going out on the jet skis, not here on the Gold Coast, but we've run out. Fuel as well before, and I am a bit nervous around the water. So having people like you that, you know, can come and help us out and let lend a helping hand, it can really ease those nerves. For someone like me who's not confident around the water, but just having that sinking feeling of, and no pun intended there, but having that sinking feeling that.
Are we going to be okay? What are we going to do now? Tell us some of your favorite stories or a favorite story with a great outcome that you've been involved with the organization.
Norris: Okay, so that's the best part about Marine Rescue South, but we're only a phone call away, so we do approximately a thousand activations a year, plus another 500.
The [00:04:00] 550 training activation. So we're a very busy organization. Like I said, we service a lot of vessels from small boats to, to big boats. But we do get large scale search and rescue people fall overboard on, on boats and they're obviously coordinated by the Gold Coast Water Police or the Queensland Police Service, and we just assist them.
But we do a lot of, like I said, work for the Queensland Ambulance Service. So. We do quite a few boating accidents where people collide with either other boats or with beacons or sandbanks. We do quite a lot of high speed sandbank work where people have run around. People get thrown around in the boat and severely injured.
So we've had some very large vessels that have done that. Totally gone the wrong side of a navigation beacon or just unfamiliar with the area. And we've actually, we've done a couple of fatalities where people have been involved in that, where they've hit bulkheads in boats or been thrown downstairs and suffered some pretty horrific injuries.
Host: Yeah. What has been like a really [00:05:00] rewarding part for you or thing that you've done? With the marine rescues,
Norris: I think these searches where you find somebody and you get a result at the end where the person's alive they're a highlight to everybody. And we don't do a lot of those types of activations, but you know, not all marine rescue searches end in tragedy.
We do get people who are found, and a lot of the time it might be. Mum and dad ringing up and saying, you know, little Johnny's gone out on the jet ski and he's left his phone at home and now we can't contact him. Are you able to go and look for him? And generally those sorts of things. And I've always said, you know, one of, one of my biggest highlights is you know, mum and dad in the four meter tinny in the middle of the seaway on a winters afternoon where they break down and just to get them back to the boat ramp.
The kids are happy and it's a great result. I think they're the most rewarding jobs that, that I tend to to want to do.
Host: So with every, all the amazing things that you do for our community, I'm so glad that we are able to support you through [00:06:00] Bartercard . How has Bartercard helped volunteer Marine Rescue?
Norris: Okay, so Barta Card's been
wonderful. We've as I said, the 25 year association, but. Just recently we were able to to find a concreter who was able to construct a boat ramp for us. That's a couple of years ago now. So we apportioned a large amount of Bartercard to that to that job. And we ended up with a product that we would've paid a lot of money for otherwise.
So we were very proud of that. But over the years we've achieved a lot of things. We've bought a lot of product, we've had a lot of trades, people who've come and helped us. We've. Bought a lot of stationary for the organization. We've bought a lot of clothing and all those sorts of things. And I'm a veteran of all the trade shows, so everybody will probably know me from seeing me there, but they're a great fundraising source for us as well.
So we generally find the Bartercard customers that we have are very kind. They like to make great donations to us and in return, we've got quite a lot of Bartercard staff members who are actually members of our organization. So they have a boat or a jet ski. And a [00:07:00] majority of 'em have been customers as well.
So, yeah that's the best part about, we can give something back to those people as well.
Host: So, on that, because you've got a lot of volunteers up here and you are running 24 7, how can people get involved with you? Okay,
Norris: so we we advertise quite largely on the, my BC the app as well. And if you look it up on our disco under Volunteer Marine Rescue, we'll come up.
You can go on there and you can make a donation or you can contact our organization at the VMR Southport website. It'll tell you a an email address to contact and we'll definitely get back in contact with you and, happy to accept any sort of donation that people are happy to give us. And yeah, if you're out there and you're a Bartercard customer and you need assistance on the water, more than happy to help you there as well.
Host: So should they mention that they're Bartercard members if they're getting stuck out in the waves? Well,
Norris: they should. They should, because we're happy to accept the Bartercard . And we've, like we said, we've done so for a long time, so. It doesn't matter whether you are or whether you're not we'll we'll help anybody.
it's a good thing to return to [00:08:00] people who've looked after us in the past.
Host: Excellent. And what are some of the other fundraising things that you generally do within the organization?
Norris: Okay, so probably the membership component of our organization is the biggest part, but over the years we've done a lot of bunning, sausage sizzles and things like that.
And yeah generally just raffles and things like that. So. it's getting harder to do those sorts of things, so, you know, any opportunity that we get to do something else where we can, we can make some money. That's it. And once again, this weekend we're we're big participants of the Sanctuary Cave International Boat Show.
So we've been going there for, in excess of 20, 25 years as well. So, that's probably our biggest fundraiser of the year. So if you're a Bartercard customer and you're coming to the boat show, we'll be there and you'll see us and gladly take your donation if you or your membership if you wanna sign up.
Host: Excellent. So make sure you do follow and check out volunteers, Marine rescue, especially in Southport because they are doing phenomenal things. So you've been able to utilize your Bartercard [00:09:00] to make that boat ramp. What did that do for the organization?
Norris: Okay, so the previous boat ramp was falling apart.
It was cracking up. It was very dangerous for us to launch and retrieve our vessels. So, by getting a new product there. And it was a difficult venture to take on because obviously being a boat ramp, you can only work at different tides And it was a long, prolonged project because we could only work at certain tides and we had to be honest, a three month break in between because we couldn't get the right tide to to create the lower part of the boat ramp.
So it was an extended product, but it was worth the wait we got there in the end, we got a good product and, now the guys can and the girls can launch and retrieve the vessel safely. And we've just done that a couple of times today just to clean the boats ready for. The next couple of weeks. So yeah, it was a great, it was a great venture to do that.
Host: Excellent. And that's such an important thing for everyone who's out on the water, but also for the safety of all of your volunteers. If a charity was wanting to look at different [00:10:00] ways and diversifying how they're fundraising, would you recommend Bartercard to them?
Norris: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It's a great opportunity.
There's a lot of people, there's a lot of customers in this company and they're trying to find ways of spending their money. If you've got something you can offer to. Bartercard customer. That's great. And we hope that what we've done over our time of we've given something back and yeah.
I would recommend anybody to to come along and join.
Host: Excellent. Well, thank you Glen, so much for coming in and representing the volunteers Marine Rescue from Southport. We're so thankful to have you as a partner and thank you for sharing your stories with us today.
Norris: Yep. Thank you very much. And thank you to Bartercard for all their ongoing support and we hope that we can, continue that into the future.
Host: Thank you for being with us today and sharing your stories and expertise. If you wanna find out how Bartercard can help your business, or if you wanna be a guest on our future podcast, contact our team at [00:11:00] hello@Bartercard .com. Make sure you tune in for our next episode of the Barter Edge.