Volunteering for COTA NSW helped retiree Anoop Sud find meaning

Thanks to COTA NSW, Anoop has found renewed purpose and is pouring that positive energy back into the community with his tireless volunteer and community work.

The Indian born 74-year-old former coding and IT professional's busy career saw him working on every continent but Antarctica and South America.

He was using technology that would form the basis for apps like What's App and Zoom long before they were conceived.

Anoop's career gave him drive and purpose, but after entering retirement, he struggled to find companionship and direction, which led to an acute period of anxiety and depression.

"Technology is the only thing where anything that is two years old is antique," he said.

"The problem with working in technology - especially as a coder, is you're sitting in your own room, you get lonely.

"God didn't create man to live alone, God created man to live in a society."

Everything changed for Anoop when he came across an ad on social media - COTA was looking to establish an advocacy group for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Australians and was inviting people from multicultural backgrounds to attend a meeting.

At the meeting he met COTA NSW president Joan Hughes, and after a long chat everything changed.

"I told her a little about my story and she said 'Anoop, I think you should put this in writing and send it to me'.

"Asking me to put my story in writing, that sort of pulled me out of my shell."

Soon afterwards, Anoop was volunteering as a COTA community speaker and advocate, using his own experiences to help others - often people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

As a speaker he offers advice and support on ageing well and navigating the aged care system, but his community work doesn't end there.

He is also a member of Blacktown Council's Seniors Advisory Committee, co-chair of the NSW Health Technology and Innovation Committee, a member of the NSW Federal Health Aged Care Group, the Sydney Alliance and Rotary Club.

He also helps seniors learn to use smartphones and laptops at the Doonside Senior Citizens Club and regularly visits a man with dementia through the federal government's Community Visitors Scheme.

"I call this the third phase of my career. The first phase was my vocation.... the second phase was retirement, which was characterised by loneliness and depression. This is the third.

"Joan, she came like a miracle into my life, she pulled me out of that shell and said 'here's something you can do'."

Accredited in suicide prevention, Anoop also volunteers with Mentoring Men - the role sees him performing a mentorship role to help his mentee navigate mental health issues.

While there is no doubt about the amount he is giving back to the community, Anoop doesn't want any accolades for what he is doing, nor does he want to be seen as the reason for any positive changes his mentee might make.

"I'm not taking credit for that, I'm giving the credit to the person, he was able to change himself, I was just the catalyst.

"If I took something from the community, I need to give it back."

For information on how you can get involved in volunteering through COTA NSW click here.