Harvey’s father-and-son team committed to serve

A father-and-son team have been doing their part to help keep the community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harvey SES members Todd Verrall and his 20-year-old son Dylan, have not shied away from extra duties that have arisen.

The State Emergency Service, which is responsible for providing emergency repairs when a disaster strikes, has been working alongside police and Australian Defence Force members conducting border patrol duties at the 30 regional checkpoints across WA.

This has been in addition to their hard work in road rescue and hazard management work.

Todd began volunteering with the SES in 1988 and said the SES “was still here” for the community in this time of need.

“My parents were volunteers in the fire brigade and so I wanted to help out too,” Todd said.

He had been through the scouts program and joined the SES once he turned 18.

He was involved in last year’s tornado clean-up efforts, after it tore its way through the Harvey community.

There are more than 2000 SES volunteers in WA who are committed to carrying out land searches, helping in traffic crashes and supporting the community in natural disasters.

Todd said he was proud of his son for serving the community.

“There is that saying that volunteers breed volunteers and Dylan is doing a fantastic job,” he said.

Dylan graduated from the Australind Senior High School cadet program two years ago.

“We got to do a lot of great initiatives like helping at Relay for Life,” Dylan said.

“I was never the type of kid to play video games, so I would really enjoy doing cadets.”

Dylan said the branch needed more volunteers once the pandemic was over. “The SES has something for everyone, if you don’t feel comfortable attending road crashes, there are other duties that you are able to do.”