Tamworth's Ronald McDonald House, short 70 volunteers, can't operate 24 hours a day

House manager Rhiannon Curtis said the service had about 80 volunteers before the crisis, but had about 10 now.

Many of the volunteers who have not returned had been with them since their first days, she said.

Paid employees staff the centre during business hours, but it's the volunteers who make the house a special service for families facing their worst days.

"It's the volunteers that really make up that special layer of support I guess you could call it," she said.

"They'll help them cook their dinner at night, or they'll sit there and chat to them about how their day's gone whether it's been good or bad. We sort of ride the highs and lows with them as well."

The house tends to be at capacity most days, with about four or five families staying there.

Jane Francis has been a Ronald McDonald House volunteer in Tamworth since 2018.

She said the job can be a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

"We see them at their worst and at their happiest when they're going home when they've been here for such a long time," she said.

"You get back more than what you give when you do volunteer work, you really do."

Miss Curtis said she was very confident they would recruit enough volunteers to get back to full strength.

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"It'll be a slow process because there's only so many people we can recruit at once but I'm pretty confident," she said.

"We've got a really great team and now that we're back to operating properly it's much easier because you can actually get them in and do the induction and they can get to work straight away."

The house is always accessible 24 hours a day for walk-ins.

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