TWO stand out Mount Gambier citizens will be recognised at tomorrow’s Australia Day breakfast for their dedication to the wider community.
Mount Gambier City Council yesterday announced volunteer and business owner Sharon Tuffnell as its citizen of the year for her community spirit, giving nature and ongoing generous support within the district.
“Sharon is a dedicated St John Cadet Officer and the effort she puts in to her cadets is absolutely outstanding,” nominator Ross Parkinson OAM said.
“She is a wonderful leader, she is very caring and she applies opportunities for cadets to develop as young people not only in first aid, but their leadership skills and their inspiration to do good for others.”
As a Grade Five divisional officer at the Mount Gambier St John Cadet Division, Ms Tuffnell provides support to enable young cadets to travel and compete in state first aid and allied competitions.
“Our Cadet Division has grown to about 28 cadets and I see that my role is preparing the youth for their future, mentoring them, giving them leadership opportunities and setting them in good stead for community involvement,” Ms Tuffnell said.
Ms Tuffnell is passionate about supporting the growth and development of local members of the community.
“You just feel rewarded when you can help others and the community by attending events and mentoring the kids,” she said.
“This award is not about me, I do it for them, I do it for St John and the cadets and the adults in our division and our region. It’s about setting them up for their future life, whatever they’d like to do.”
Senior citizen of the year will be awarded to Lakes Rotary Club stalwart Graham Robinson.
Mr Robinson has been involved with the club for more than 20 years and received Paul Harris Fellow recognition for his substantial contribution to educational programs.
“He’s what I call a ‘can do’ rather than a ‘gonna’, he’s an engineer by trade, a retired TAFE lecturer and he can build anything,” nominator Phil Richards said.
“He’s a very good organiser and a good leader.”
Mr Robinson takes the Rotary International motto “service above self” seriously and thinks nothing of putting in 25 to 30 hours a week as a volunteer to help many community organisations throughout the community.
He volunteers at the Mount Gambier Police Station for five hours every Monday morning to help with customer relations.
“I find it very rewarding, I happen to be a Justice of the Peace which also enables me to certify documents and statutory declarations at the same time,” he said.
“You always get back more than you put in. To me it might be a small thing, but it could be huge for someone else.”
Mr Robinson has initiated successful local programs including the annual science and engineering challenge at Tenison Woods College and the road safety car headlight check initiative.
“He has put in many hundreds of hours of service for the benefit of the community over the years and he’s an unsung hero as far as I’m concerned,” Mr Richards said.
Despite a long list of volunteering efforts, he remains humble about his input into the local community.
“In reality, I do not see what I do as being special. Lots of people do lots of things for lots of organisations, it does not matter what it is and to be singled out I guess I’m surprised, but I’m happy to receive the award,” Mr Robinson said.
