To celebrate National Volunteer Week the Country Education Foundation (CEF) has launched annual volunteer awards to recognise the tireless work of long-standing rural and regional volunteers. Awards are being issued for long service to committee members past and present who have volunteered with a local foundation for 10 or more years.
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The CEF has also recognised the outstanding commitment of four volunteers with the launch of the inaugural Katie Walker Outstanding Service Awards.
Braidwood’s Trish Solomon was among the first recipients of the ‘Katie Walker Outstanding Service Award’.
For Trish it all started in September 2005 when the Braidwood & District Education Foundation was looking for a Secretary for the committee. Martin Pitt had heard on the grapevine that Trish Solomon was good at administration, and he assured her that all she had to do was take the minutes of the meeting once a month. She was given one A4 sheet of paper headed “Critical Dates Checklist” with two columns – ‘Tasks’ and ‘Completion due date.’ It all seemed very simple.
Trish says “the great thing about the Braidwood committee is that each member has a specific task. This works very well until there is a change in committee.”
Between 2005 and 2011 there were a number of changes and it was at this time that Trish took on the responsibility of organising advertising, recipient applications, interviews, sending out a package of information outlining the Foundation’s expectations and the responsibilities of each recipient, the presentation night, claiming of money, liaison between recipients, parents and the Foundation. Trish is still the person the committee defer to for information and direction when it comes to meetings, the AGM and our responsibilities as a Foundation.
In 2011, with a number of new members keen to contribute, the committee reviewed the Secretary’s ‘task list.’ It was estimated that Trish was doing about 80% of the administrative work. So, with a little re-organisation and re-allocation of jobs Trish was convinced that others could certainly take on the role of recipient applications and interviews. This certainly relieved the pressure and work load.
Trish says “In 2016 BDEF has a committee that works together exceptionally well to achieve its goals. The role of Secretary will always have a substantial administrative responsibility, particularly as the CEF continues to expand its functions and therefore the reporting required by the individual foundations increases.”
Trish is committed to making a difference to the lives of the young people of the Braidwood district and so is happy to use her administrative skills to ensure the BDEF continues to operate efficiently.
Katie Walker, who is a director on the board of the Country Education Foundation and founding member of the Country Education Foundation and the local foundation in Yass, said volunteers were the backbone of the organisation.
“The Country Education Foundation has hundreds of dedicated volunteers who all work tirelessly to raise funds for the further education and training of rural and regional school leavers. Recognising the enormous contributions of some of those volunteers is not hard at all. I am honoured to announce four outstanding service awards for 2016.”
The other recipients of the award were; Patricia Jacka from Clare Valley, SA, Trish McKenzie from Paroo, Qld and Ginny Taylor from Coonamble, NSW.
“These four outstanding volunteers set a fine example of how giving back to your local community can foster bright futures for the next generation,” Katie said.
CEO of the Country Education Foundation Sarah Taylor said National Volunteer Week reminds us all to be thankful for those who contribute time and resources without asking for anything in return.
“Country Education Foundation volunteers are instrumental in making sure disadvantaged country kids get the opportunity to go on to uni or further training.”
The Country Education Foundation is a national not-for-profit organisation working to provide disadvantaged rural and regional students with further education, training and career opportunities.
