By Alesha Capone
Giuseppe Inserra has an extensive history of service to the community.
Mr Inserra, who is also known as Joe, is aged 83. He immigrated from Sicily to Australia during the 1960s.
He lived in Werribee at first, before moving to Laverton. In 1985, Mr Inserra built the Laverton Skate Centre, so his five children could learn to skate.
At the age of 50, Mr Inserra also learned to skate himself, and still enjoys rollerblading today. Mr Inserra has a long list of involvement in many community causes.
During the 1990s, after big banks closed their Laverton branches, the Laverton Retail Traders Association decided to raise $350,000 worth of shares to start a community bank.
Mr Inserra, a member of the association, helped raise the money. He served as a member of the Laverton Bendigo Bank Community Bank until the age of 80, and is now a community ambassador for the bank.
Hobsons Bay Community Financial Services – a social enterprise which owns the Altona and Laverton Community Bank branches of the Bendigo Bank, and Point Cook Business Centre – last year presented Mr Inserra with its Community Partner of the Year.
“I felt on top of the world, always in my life I try to help people,” Mr Inserra said.
