Western suburbs’ ‘shining lights’, also dubbed ‘‘the silent achievers’’ and ‘‘the tireless workers’’, were awarded Rotary Club of Footscray’s highest honour at a ceremony on Thursday night.
Citing a famous Albert Einstein quote ‘‘Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile’’, the club president Dr Ejanul Haque, kicked off the Rotary’s tribute night, saluting five people who, he said, had changed their community members’ lives for the better by their selfless acts.
The first called to receive the prestigious John H. Kerr community service award was Reeta Verma, a lecturer in law at La Trobe University, Bundoora.
The others were Footscray police Sergeant Ian Brown, Willing Older Workers’ (WOW)’s Marilyn King, Vincent de Paul’s president Patricia McLoughlin and African community leader Yasseen Musa.
Mrs Verma won accolades for her work in helping victims of family violence in western suburbs – a passion she has made her life’s goal.
She said: ‘‘When you believe in something, it’s not a chore, it’s something that becomes your nature, something you live by.’’
She said the growing family violence incidents were not just a scourge of the western suburbs, or Victoria, but a global problem, which required a united attempt by various governments and the community to tackle it.
‘‘Governments in the past were taking action only while responding to family violence incidents as they occurred. But, fortunately, since the past five years, the authorities are putting in motion policies and taking action for the prevention of family violence.
‘‘The goal now should be for the elimination of violence. And for that, we need not just prolonged government action, but a change in community attitudes toward women. There is need for focusing on gender equality, and that violence in any form is not acceptable.’’
Mrs Verma has long organised workshops and seminars with Victoria Police to help family violence victims with support and services. She said violence pervaded among people of all faiths, not just among Melbourne’s multicultural society, but across the wider community.
Mrs King’s volunteer-run not-for-profit charity WOW in West Footscray helps people in need with food and other services. She said she was ‘‘incredibly humbled’’ to win the award.
She said she had great support from her family, particularly husband Howard, to continue her goal of helping mature-age people. Mrs King formed the charity after her husband was made redundant from his job years ago, and she realised there were hunderds like him who needed support.
‘‘We have an open-house policy at our home, and people are welcome with food parcels and we also guide people over government support and services. Other charities help us with food items.’’
Sergeant Brown he was greatly touched getting the award. “My goal is making Footscray and surrounds great places to live, where we can guarantee community safety.’’
Footscray MP Marsha Thomson said the western suburbs’ community would be much poorer but for the efforts of the five stars of the night.
They deserved their awards, she said.
Footscray police Inspector Tony Long, who also attended, agreed family violence remained a big problem in the region. He called on victims of violence to make contact with police.
