Spirit of care comes alive

By Tania Martin
A YOUNG firefighter, a youth advocate and an artist are just some of the people who could be recognised for their community spirit on Australia Day.
They are among the list of 32 nominees eligible for Cardinia Shire Council awards on Tuesday 26 January.
Clematis resident and ECHO Youth Ministries director Wayne Collins has been nominated for his commitment to young people in the Emerald district over the past 25 years.
He moved to the area in the early ’80s and discovered a desperate need for a youth outreach service.
Mr Collins helped establish ECHO which has since grown to have contract with more than 350 young people.
He said he has been humbled by the nomination for Cardinia’s prestigious Citizen of the Year award.
“I was amazed,” Mr Collins said.
“I don’t think I am doing anything extra special, I am just doing what’s important.”
Mr Collins said if he the gong on Tuesday it would bring much needed attention to the continued need for youth services in the region.
He said it was especially a great honour to be recognised on the nation’s day of pride.
“But it’s still hard for me to imagine I have done anything more special than someone else has done,” Mr Collins said.
Emerald CFA volunteer Peta MacKay was equally flabbergasted to be named a nominee for Youth Citizen of the Year.
She is being recognised for her commitment to helping the community as a firefighter and also for her role on the Emerald Ambulance Auxiliary.
“It’s a great honour, I don’t think I deserve it but it means heaps to me,” she said. Peta first joined the CFA when she was just 11, looking for something different to do in her spare time.
Now she sees it as a way of giving back to her community.
Peta said joining the ambulance auxiliary was a family tradition. “I was just following in my parents and grandparents footsteps,” she said.
Renowned artist John Dudley has had his fingers in many pies over the years but never expected to be nominated for Senior Citizen of the Year.
He is known for his continued patronage of the Emerald RSL, Art Society, the town’s village committee, and the Cardinia ratepayers association.
“I don’t think I deserve it but it’s an honour,” Mr Dudley said.
“It especially special because it’s Australia Day – that and Anzac Day are the two most important occasions for Australians.
Emerald’s May Worrell has also been nominated for her years of services to the Emerald Senior Citizens and to the RSL and Menzies Creek man Phil Ruck will battle it out for the Community Service Award honours.
Friends of Kurth Kiln National Park members Ursula and Alfred Klink were also named nominees for the Community Service Award.
Alfred said it was a shock to be nominated but believes it would be a good promotion for Kurth Kiln.
“We do love the place,” he said.
Emerald Rotary Club’s and the Variety Club’s popular Fun Run with Thomas the Tank Engine will go head to head for the Community Service for the Year title.
The fun run attracts thousands of kids every year and helps raise more than $60,000 each year for the Monash Medical Centre Cancer Unit.