Kim O’Keeffe and David Shipston have been nominated for the 2020 Victorian Regional Achievement and Community Awards.
The awards are in their 18th year and are designed to encourage, acknowledge and reward the valuable contributions that individuals, communities and businesses make throughout regional and rural Victoria.
Mr Shipston has been nominated for the Ricoh Australia Customer Service Award for his dedication in his role as executive manager at Shepparton’s Rumbalara Elders facility.
Beginning his role in January, Mr Shipston was recognised for “always putting the elders and their community first” and gaining the respect of a “community that does not trust easily”.
Mr Shipston said he was honoured to receive the nomination but said his work was a team effort.
“I am so fortunate to learn so much from the elders’ wisdom and learn about their incredible lives,” Mr Shipston said.
“We have so many great personalities here and they have so much resilience.
“My mission is to bring growth and prosperity to the elders and engage them in activities that bring the Yorta Yorta culture together,” he said.
Ms O’Keeffe has been nominated for the Awards Australia Community Hero Award which recognises people doing extraordinary things within their local communities.
From raising awareness for the region’s homelessness community, raising $32,000 for bushfire victims to volunteering and creating a campaign for Shepparton’s FoodShare initiative, Ms O’Keeffe constantly has the community at the forefront of her mind.
Ms O’Keeffe said she always tried to contribute where she could, but it was the community working together that made the biggest difference.
“I had been volunteering for two mornings a week at FoodShare since April but extended my hours after many of their volunteers were of a vulnerable age and couldn’t work during the pandemic,” Ms O’Keeffe said.
“They were also in need of food donations so I started working on a plan on how that could happen and I came up with the “buy one extra item at the supermarket or at a local business campaign”.
“This was a win win as the businesses benefited from the extra sales and FoodShare received hundreds of extra food items from these businesses,” she said.
Winners of the awards are expected to be announced in October via a virtual event.
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