Page 292 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 February 2016
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The association needs more financial support, and I encourage the government to consider what support can be offered to them. I commend the work of the Lone Fathers Association to the Assembly. For information on the work of the Lone Fathers Association I encourage members to visit their website at lonefathers.org.au.
Volunteering awards
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (4.52): Today I received some notification that nominations for the 2016 ACT volunteer of the year awards are now open, and I take this opportunity to congratulate Volunteering ACT who, as you well know, Madam Deputy Speaker, do an outstanding job coordinating these awards and the celebrations during National Volunteer Week, given your longstanding involvement, including previous employment, with Volunteering ACT. Here in Canberra we have so many outstanding people and organisations who are involved in the volunteering sector, people who volunteer their time making a valuable contribution to our community.
For the past five years, Beyond Bank have partnered with ACT Volunteering to sponsor the awards, and there have been some very worthy recipients. These awards give the recipients a moment to reflect and receive some recognition and admiration for the tireless work they undertake each and every day to make our community a better place. And most volunteers are not doing it for any reward or recognition; they are doing it because they identify a need in their community and they want to help bridge that need. Any reward or recognition that comes is perhaps a bonus to them, but it is certainly not what they are seeking.
These awards certainly are a way of acknowledging the very valuable and significant contribution that volunteers make to our community each and every day and night. In my electorate of Brindabella alone there were numerous recipients last year. Just to name a few, we had Brett Howland, Randa Vincent, Irene Scott, Glenda Ferman-Fish, Alison Yialeloglu, David Hutchison, Beverley Crittall, Vanessa Crowe, Gordon McAlpine, and Clinton Ramsay.
In 2014 the ACT Volunteer of the Year was Michael D’Elboux of Kulture Break, who has been the backbone of this great organisation working with young people. He is an excellent role model for the next generation. In 2013 the ACT Volunteer of the Year was Lanyon Youth and Community Volunteers, a team of 20 volunteers who support their community through bus transportation of young people across the ACT, working at the Lanyon Food Hub Emergency Relief Centre, working in the Lanyon Ladle Community Soup Kitchen, and assisting with child care. In 2011 the ACT Volunteer of the Year was Jeannie Bruce of Banks for her vital counselling service, which often involved saving lives without expectation of any public applause or recognition and at great personal sacrifice.
The 2016 awards ceremony will be held on Monday, 9 May and nominations for the awards, as I have said, are now invited across the following eight categories: arts and environment; community care and health; community service; education, science and technology; emergency services; skilled volunteer, sport and recreation; and the young person under the age of 25.
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