It's the 25th Anniversary of Volunteer week, at Taronga we're celebrating the power of volunteers, with over 600 volunteers across Sydney and Dubbo and another 400 youth volunteers we have a lot to celebrate.Our volunteers greet and help our 1.6 million visitors each year, create amazing enrichment items for our animals, conduct ground breaking research, and do office administration, from the glamorous to the mundane nothing is too much for this big hearted hard working group.On Wednesday at Taronga Zoo we had a thank you lunch for our volunteers and presented awards to our volunteers who go above and beyond in support of conservation, from a volunteer in our foundation who’s running the great ocean road half marathon on Sunday for Team Taronga, to volunteer trainers, who teach other volunteers about our animals and conservation. We recognised a new tour guide who is so passionate about Taronga she sells volunteer led tours on the ferry on the way to work, to an experienced volunteer who we had to 'trick' into attending the lunch as she refused to abandon her post!  The stories are numerous, inspiring and humbling.  So, this week (and every week) we say thank you to everyone who has given even a minute of their most precious gift, their time, to support us.  We couldn’t imagine Taronga without you.  #NVW2014