Wodonga Council hosted another successful Wodonga Volunteers Fair on Saturday where we crowned this year's winners.
This year we renamed the Individual Volunteer of the Year award in honour of Bryan Watson.
The Bryan Watson Award was sponsored by Belvoir Wodonga Rotary Club and was awarded to Reginald Morley.
Reginald was described by the person who nominated him as the 'king of volunteers'.
He is one of Wodonga's oldest and longest-serving volunteers, racking up 70 plus years.
The team award was presented to the Friends of Willow Park .
Friends of Willow park work to educate and involve the community in protecting, preserving and valuing parklands.
The group has contributed more than 150 volunteer hours so far this year to enhance the outdoor environment across the entire park, including the bush corridor connecting other parks, resulting in many benefits for the community.
Each year the group hosts a National Tree Planting Day and involves the general public and refugee groups.
The winner of the People’s Choice Individual Award is Keith Quinn.
Keith has been involved with the Wodonga Softball Club for more than 30 years.
During that time, he has been the head coach and coached senior and junior teams as well as coaching within the wider association, spending up to six days a week to ensure children reach their full potential in the sport.
His efforts have seen 14 players achieve state level in the past two years, assisting their training on the Border rather than having to travel to Melbourne during the week.
The public also voted in the People’s Choice Team Award, which went to Wodonga Koorie Youth Network Planning Committee.
The Wodonga Koorie Youth Network Planning Committee support the Wodonga Koorie Youth Network (WYKN), a group of Koorie youth aged 12 to 25 years, that come together on a regular basis to plan, conduct and evaluate fun activities that address their priorities.
The planning committee plays a key supporting role to ensure the WYKN’s ongoing sustainability, co-ordinating planning meetings, supervising activities and mentoring young people to take leadership role.
This, in turn, allows the WKYN to provide a safe and supported environment where young people can influence things that are important to them while also building the capacity of future community leaders.
Congratulations to all the winners.