Central West Volunteers Supporting New Australian Lives, All Sporting Lives And Every Step in Life

Volunteers from Forbes, Orange and Millthorpe were recognised for their outstanding contribution at the 10th Annual Volunteer of the Year Awards in Bathurst today.

The top award went to Michael Truloff of Millthorpe who received both the overall 2016 Central West Volunteer of the Year Award and the Adult Volunteer of the Year Award for his work with The Redmond Oval Sub Committee and the Millthorpe Junior Cricket Club.

Chief Executive Officer of The Centre for Volunteering, Gemma Rygate, said volunteers improve people’s lives by helping out, keeping people connected and creating a sense of belonging in communities.

“This year The Centre for Volunteering received a record number of nominations: More than 7,500 nominations covering – more than 100,000 volunteers – a record number since the awards began 10 years ago,” Ms Rygate said.

“Volunteering is in the DNA of Australians: In NSW more than 2.3 million people volunteer – if volunteering were an industry it would employ more people than any other sector including mining and tourism,” Ms Rygate said.

Michael’s commitment to the upgrade of Millthorpe’s only open community space – the Redmond Oval – encompassed every aspect of this project from fundraising, lobbing council over designs and liaising with diverse sporting and other interest groups, Ms Rygate said.

“Not only does Millthorpe now enjoy one of the most beautiful and useful community spaces as a result of Michael’s endeavours but he has galvanised many diverse groups to make full use of the space opening the way for more diverse activities in the town including a wide range of sporting events to markets, school functions – all drawn to the lovely oval environment and its facilities,” Ms Rygate said.

“It is also an acknowledged fact that the Millthorpe Junior Cricket Club would not exist without Michael’s selfless involvement over many years and many Millthorpe kids would have missed out or had to travel significant distances to play Australia’s national sport,” Ms Rygate said.

The Winners of the 2016 Central West NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards are:

The Minister responsible for volunteering, John Ajaka, said the awards are an important way of recognising the vibrant contribution individual volunteers make towards strengthening communities across NSW.

“Our incredible volunteers make NSW the beautiful and rewarding place it is to live and work,” Mr Ajaka said.

“Central to volunteer satisfaction is meaningful recognition of the vital and diverse contribution of volunteers.”

Twenty regional Volunteer of the Year Award ceremonies are being held around the state.

All regional winners will be in the running for the overall NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards, which are announced at a gala event in Sydney on Friday December 2, in the lead up to International Volunteer Day.

The Volunteer of the Year Awards are generously supported by principal partners the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, and ClubsNSW, the industry body which represents the states 1400 not-for-profit clubs, as well as Bupa Aged Care.

Background

The NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards is an annual program run by The Centre for Volunteering to recognise the outstanding work of volunteers in every region across NSW. Twenty award ceremonies are held across NSW from August to October where nominees are recognised with certificates and winners announced.

Regional winners will be entered into the overall State 2016 Volunteer of the Year

For more information about more about the 2016 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards visit our website