By JESSE GRAHAM
A number of Yarra Valley community members and organisations were hailed for their work by the council, receiving high accolades in the yearly awards for their service.
Healesville Interchurch Community Care Inc (HICCI), Coldstream’s Phyllis Dixon, Warburton resident Norman Orr, Millgrove resident Lily Belle Hellicar and Healesville’s Michael Halligan all received various awards in the Yarra Ranges Council’s Australia Day Awards on 26 January.
HICCI, which is made up of five members of staff and over 100 volunteers, received the prestigious Community Group of the Year award for its work to service more than 600 families.
The group runs three core programs to help community members: Emergency Relief, Volunteer Transport and Community Meals – each helps members of the community in various aspects of their lives.
Ms Dixon, a Yarra Ranges resident for the past 62 years, founded the Yarra Valley Over 50s Friendship Club in 1994, and has been the president for the past two decades.
Throughout that time, she has assisted elderly members of the community to build strong relationships and friendships, as well as remaining secretary for the Mount Evelyn Tennis Club for 20 years.
She received the Mayor’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in communities across the Yarra Ranges.
Mr Orr was named as the winner of the Ian De La Rue Award for Community Leadership in the award ceremony for his work to improve the Warburton Community.
Through his work on the original steering committee to found the Upper Yarra Community Enterprise, 16 years as the Warburton Post Master and the Warburton Chamber of Commerce, Mr Orr has dedicated immeasurable amounts of his time to his local community.
Lily Belle Hellicar, 17, received an award for Young Citizen of the Year, following three years of volunteering with Koha Community Café, where she is now the volunteer co-ordinator and takes part in major fund-raising events.
Meanwhile, Mr Halligan received a certificate of recognition in the awards for his support to the Healesville Rotary Club, particularly following the Black Saturday bushfires, in supplying and donating trailers for community members and events.
The community members were all thanked for their generous work in their individual communities.
Award recipients:
Citizen of the Year – Tanya de Visser
Young Citizen of the Year – Lily Belle Hellicar
Community Group of the Year – HICCI
Environmental Achiever of the Year – Jean and David Edwards
Ken McIntosh Memorial Award (Young Environmental Achiever of the Year) – Georgia Grimmer
Mayor’s Lifetime Achievement Award – Phyllis Dixon
Ian De La Rue Award for Community Leadership – Norman Orr
Certificate of Recognition recipients:
Judy Thorburn
Michael Halligan
For more on the Australia Day Award winners, visit mail.starcommunity.com.au.
