COA is an organisation created by Jewish seniors, for the benefit of Jewish seniors, with services delivered by Jewish seniors.

It started as a purely volunteer organisation. Within the first decade COA had developed a number of services in direct response to member needs, and had taken on 5 staff members to handle the administration required to run these services to government specifications. But the vast majority of service delivery, administration, and organisational management was, and still is, undertaken by volunteers.

COA runs with 160 active volunteers, aided by 15 staff members - the majority of whom are part time.

Volunteers provide Shabbat and festival candle lighting in non-denominational nursing homes, deliver meals, schmooze and dance with members in the centre, lead activities, help with computer work and administration, transport members, assist on COA buses, make lunches; and they find great joy and satisfaction what they do.

Volunteers are in general retirees with time on their hands and blessed with community spirit. We have remarkable longevity with our volunteers, many continuing their COA work for decades. Our longest serving volunteers, Zelda Feigen OAM (COA Life President) and Hanni Chalmers OAM (Shalom Connect Program) , have been part of COA since its inception, and continue to contribute. Age is no barrier to working with us, and we often work around frailties and morbidities to find just the right role for those who cannot contribute in a very physical way.

COA is immensely proud of the dedication, flexibility, and menschlichkeit of our volunteer workforce.