Simon Owens gives back to Bega Vinnies after his life was flipped two years ago.

The former LG Hooker Bega owner of 17 years was in hospital for over 12 months, and had multiple seizures during his stay, now living with epilepsy and limited mobility.

"I felt a bit crook the weekend before, so I went to work on Monday and booked in for a doctors appointment.

"I couldn't get in until Friday afternoon and it was the Thursday night it happened. 48 years to the day that a stroke killed my grandfather," Mr Owens said.

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After finally being discharged in July of 2021, Mr Owens got chatting with one of his carer's, Carol Whitney and decided he would like to get involved at St Vincent De Paul in Bega, as a way of getting out of the house.

Mr Owens volunteers at the branch twice a week, with the help of a support network that transports him to and from the store.

After starting out pricing items out the back, Mr Owens now works the front counter, and gets to have a chinwag with the Bega locals who stop by.

"One of the doctors suggested that I keep myself busy. Don't let your mind sit dormant for too long, it's better to keep your mind busy," Mr Owens said.

Able to help out across the store and operate the till with his right hand, Mr Owens has seen first hand the hard work that goes into the store and the tireless efforts of all involved.

"The other volunteers are marvellous, it was a bit of an eye opener - the amount of work and all the activity behind the scenes," he said.

One of those volunteers was Carol Whitney, a stalwart of 11 years at the store and also one of Mr Owens' carers for the past 12 months.

"This year we've managed to bring him to Vinnies to have him help out because he needed an outlet from being at home," Ms Whitney said.

The store recently decided to do a charity drive for homelessness in the valley, and have successfully raised $11,000 through cake stalls, raffles and BBQ's over the year.

"Simon's helped us sell raffle tickets and he figured it was such a great cause.

"Just a couple of weeks ago it was his birthday and he thought he would like to make a contribution to our homeless appeal at his birthday party," Ms Whitney said

After starting as a joke among friends, the idea quickly turned into a reality and Mr Owens decided to host a Trivia Night Fund Raiser at his local Bega Country Club where he was previously the men's President.

"I wasn't sure how many people would come, so I made the donation up front to express my gratitude for them taking me in and looking after me."

Ms Whitney was overjoyed to hear about the donation, but not surprised.

"I just think it's his way of contributing. He likes to help out and I think that was just his way of contributing to a worthy cause for Bega."

"I think some of it's come out of his own pocket as well because he wanted it to be a substantial amount," she said.

Ms Whitney said the the funds will go a long way to helping with the Vinnies homeless appeal, while Mr Owens was just glad he could give back.

"Coming from a small country town myself, it's very important that people can chip in and Bega has been very good to me over the years so I just thought it was a good opportunity to help them out.

"You know there's a lot of people worse off than me," Mr Owens said.

Bega Vinnies hold a BBQ and a cake stall at the centre on either the second or third Thursday of every month.

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