2007 Awards

2007 Volunteer Awards Winners

2007 CRC Volunteer of the Year: Bethany Warth

Minister Barbara Perry with award recipient Bethany Warth

Bethany Warth has a long list of long-term voluntary commitments. Her activities cover a broad section of the community in the Illawarra Region, including the Ethnic Communities Council, the Lutheran church, a multicultural retirement village, Meals on Wheels and primary and high school programmes. All this work involves a considerable amount of travel along the Illawarra coast which she undertakes each week. Bethany has always been involved in voluntary work but since she retired from nursing it has become very much full-time work for her. At the Lutheran Church her role is to organise and coordinate food parcels for disadvantaged people in her local area a job she has been doing for the last five years. Bethany has a special way with people, especially with older clients, the disabled or infirm and is much loved by those she helps. She normally shys away from formal recognition of her service. One of those she helps each week is a blind man who says that Bethany provides him with kindness, undivided attention and human spirit.

2007 CRC Community Service Award: Nasser Sedhgi

Minister Barbara Perry with award recipient Nasser Sedghi

Nasser Sedghi has been the power behind the annual Dubbo Multicultural Festival for 14 years. He works with the Dubbo City Council to identify different ethnic or cultural groups in the area to include them in multicultural events. He engages local business to involve them in community activities. He has also successfully drawn the local indigenous community into these activities. He is an immigrant who has immersed himself and his family in the community life of the city, believing that friendship and partnership with all Australians is the key to a happy life in country Australia . His contribution and service to the Dubbo community have been described as enormous.

2007 CRC Community Service Award Highly Commended: Dorjee Dadul

Minister Barbara Perry with award recipient Dorjee Dadul and CRC Chair Stepan Kerkyasharian

Dorjee Dadul is a bastion of the Tibetan community in New South Wales . His voluntary work covers settlement services for newly arrived Tibetan humanitarian entrants, services for children and youth, including teaching Tibetan language, cultural development, and the teaching and maintenance of Tibetan performance skills. He was a founding member of the Tibetan Community Association of Australia and has remained involved in leadership roles for over 16 years. His work with newly arrived people is marked by the practical nature of the service he provides which comes down to shopping for groceries, paying bills, enrolling children in schools and assessing health needs. His contribution to the Tibetan community in Australia is described as extraordinary.

2007 CRC Young Volunteer Award: Joseph Majambere

Minister Barbara Perry with award recipient Joseph Majambere

Joseph Majambere is a volunteer with the Coffs Harbour City Councils Multicultural Reference Group where has made a significant contribution to the Group by way of his commitment, enthusiasm and input. Joseph arrived in Australia in 2005 from the small central African republic of Burundi , having escaped terrible social turmoil.

He organises and attends multicultural activities in his personal time and is always ready to assist with initiatives that help the local migrant population. Its said that Josephs most meaningful contribution has been to encourage refugees to participate in local community activities, assist in breaking down the barriers of misunderstanding and ignorance in the community, and to encourage young migrants, particularly those from Africa , to embrace their new home, Coffs Harbour .

He has formed a drum and performance group which has been a vital entertainment tool at multicultural events. He has successfully undertaken speaking engagements on behalf of the Reference Group and helped build a framework of support from which the multicultural residents of the area can only benefit.

2007 CRC Young Volunteer Award Highly Commended: Nancy Dennaoui

CRC Chair Stepan Kerkyasharian with Award recipient Nancy Dennaoui

Nancy Dennaoui not only engages in voluntary work across a long list of organisations and activities, she is really good at enthusing others at her school and in her community to volunteer their time and energy to the society. Her volunteer activities include fundraising for the Leukaemia Foundation, organising Australias Biggest Morning Tea for the Cancer Council of Australia, and coordinating the Legacy Badge Day. Recently Nancy was part of a group assisting women in western Sydney to access public swimming pool facilities. The group organisers praised Nancy s input, insight and maturity in actively helping to find solutions to this community issue. Her school head teacher says of Nancy : Her selfless nature and passion for others is evident in her constant service to her Lebanese Muslim community and the wider Australian community.

2007 CRC Lifetime Achievement in Community Sector, Joint Winners: Mustafa Hamed and Jon Soemarjono

Mustafa Hamed

Minister Barbara Perry with award recipient Mustafa Hamed and CRC Chair Stepan Kerkyasharian

Mustafa Hamed established the Arabic Welfare Centre, known as the Bhanin Association, thirty years ago and has been dedicated to helping the community it serves ever since. Just some of the issues he has dealt with over those years include housing, immigration, domestic violence, youth, crime prevention and care of the aged. Its said that Mr Hameds passion, dedication and innovation are unrivalled and it is those qualities that have made his services to the community so valuable. Not only has he worked tirelessly at the Arabic Welfare Centre over the years, but he has also assisted various community members and leaders in the establishment and daily operations of other community organisations.

Jon Soemarjono

Minister Barbara Perry with award recipient Jon Soemarjono and CRC Chair Stepan Kerkyasharian

Jon Soemarjono, its said, has offered thousands of people the tools to settle in this country and to meet their full potential, irrelevant of their cultural backgrounds. This work started as early as 1963 as Chairperson of the Indonesian Students Association at Sydney University . By 1976 he was amongst the foundation members of the Indonesian Association of Australia which he continues to support today in his retirement. Following the Bali bombings, Jon worked tirelessly with remarkable energy and determination to restore community harmony and to rebuild the strong and healthy links between the Indonesian community and mainstream Australia . His many community service roles include Ambassador for Peace with the Universal Peace Federation, Director of the Ethnic Child Care Development Unit, and Vice President of the Ryde Multicultural Centre.