Passion and humility were the common themes shared by the winners and finalists of last week’s Volunteer of The Year Awards.
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The winners came from a variety of different backgrounds, and all gave back to the community in very different ways, but the thread they shared is the very lifeblood of the community, giving back.
While Eric Scott took the top gong for his work with the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Friends of the Tamworth Marsupial Park took the top team gong for the second year straight, the Senior volunteer and Youth Volunteers of the Year were perfect examples of the opposite ends of the giving scale.
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For Mr Austin the award brought up a trifecta of terrific achievement over the past few months.
As President of the Tamworth Prostate Cancer Support Group Mr Austin has been actively lobbying for the return of a specialist prostate nurse since funding dried up three years ago. In February the group won that battle.
As vice-president of the Tamworth Film and Sound Archive he has been fundraising and pushing hard for renovations for years, just last week the ribbon was cut on the archive, complete with new flooring and some other renovations following a council grant.
On Thursday all that work, and much more was honoured when Mr Austin was named Senior Volunteer of the Year.
“It has been a pretty good run, and it is great to be recognised by your peers,” he said.
“If I could say one thing it is that I stand here on the shoulders of my fellow volunteers – this is there efforts, not mine.”
Meanwhile, on the other end of the scale 19 year old Lachlan Smith has found one of the most enjoyable ways to give back to the community, through sport, although it has come with more challenges and life lessons than he expected.
Mr Smith has been playing with South United Football Club since he was five, although stepped on to the committee two years ago, before taking vice-president of the junior club on this year, as well as U12 coach.
“It was a bit of a shock to be nominated, I never really thought about anything like this,” he said.
While most volunteers are older people, the soccer star is living proof of the skills and experience that young people can acquire by putting their hand up and helping out.
“Sometimes it can be a handful, but it is worth it when you see it all come together in the end,” he said.
“It’s a lot different to everything else I do. The biggest thing I have learnt is that everyone has a different point of view, and a different way of doing things.”
