2015 South Coast Southern Inland Region NSW Volunteer of the Year Award

The Winner of the 2015 South Coast Southern Inland Adult Volunteer of the Year Award is Heather Foggett of Queanbeyan with Capes4Kids Australia.

In the 12 months since Heather started Capes4Kids the charity has grown to supply 50+ hospitals and children’s organisations throughout Australia and now has 160 volunteers who live in every state and territory in Australia and has gifted completely free of charge 6000 capes to seriously ill children.

As the founder Heather is the one who approaches hospitals with her vision and dreams, collects, quality controls, labels and distributes each cape from her house. She is also the face of capes and attends many hospital fundraisers / telethons etc. on behalf of our charity.

Capes 4 Kids Australia Inc. is the first program of its kind in Australia.

The program prides itself on being able to bring a smile to young crusaders by gifting super powered capes to little super heroes to help them embrace their inner strength and to fight the challenges that they and their families are facing.

The carefully hand crafted capes are available free of charge and gifted to the children in hospital all over Australia so they can wear them whilst they undergo scary and often painful treatments or procedures.

In the last 12 months Heather has:

• Campaigned for a full DGR tax deductible status for Capes4kids Australia,
• had the logo and pattern trademarked,
• organised 2 schools to take part in our Schools Community project (a very new idea we are trying),
• organised and run a successful Fun Day to raise awareness and funds for Capes4Kids and
• Helped at a number of hospital telethons, fund raisers and local events.

Winner of the 2015 Senior South Coast Southern Inland Volunteer of the Year Award is Albert Manning of Tumut.

Life Education delivers lifesaving programs to primary school children in the region and has done so for over 35 years. Without the support and assistance of people like Albert who are invaluable to Life Education, they cannot continue to do the work they do. He has been a loyal volunteer for a very long time and has become an integral part of the Life Education family.

In addition Albert is also a member of the Tumut Lions Club. He has also helped secure funding in the past to support local schools. He also assists to source and store the truck and Mobile Learning Centre in between visits. Albert is a huge asset to the schools, children staff and Life Education NSW program.

Winners of the South Coast Southern Inland Volunteer Team for 2015 are The Ulladulla & Districts Community Resources Centre.

The Ulladulla & Districts Community Resources Centre (CRC) is the local areas neighbourhood Centre, offering information, referral, visiting services, group activities, assistance with forms, computer access, fax/photocopying, scanning, lamination. Admin Support, Men’s programs and other educational activities.

The team comprises of some 33 volunteers. The volunteers undertake a range of activities: some are on management, some are clerical assistants, some offer computer tuition, Tax Help, JP Community Desk and some work in the Food Store. Over the last year the computer tutors have assisted 149 older persons with lessons on how to use computers and continue to assist those wanting further tuition.

The volunteers at The Ulladulla & Districts community resources Centre (CRC) are a dedicated group of volunteers. The team are like family, they support each other are happy in their work and put the Centre and our community foremost, they are always willing to lend a hand to each other and the CRC, they offer some weekends to work on BBQs at Bunnings Ulladulla to raise funds. The CRC Team of volunteers are a great bunch and always create a wonderfully warm and welcoming atmosphere in the Centre.