Sutherland Shire’s 2017 Citizen of the Year is Pam Brown, chief executive officer of shire-based charity the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation which helps children living in families affected by mental illness.
The Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year and Community Group of the Year were announced by Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce yesterday.
Pam has been an active and outstanding contributor to Shire community organisations for over a decade, dedicating significant time and expertise in both paid and unpaid community work.
Pam was previously a volunteer camp leader with Kookaburra Kids and has been involved with Caringbah Rotary for 12 years.
She was also instrumental in the establishment and running of the Cook Community Classic Gala Dinner raising funds for local community organisations.
2017 Young Citizen of the Year Sutherland Shire’s Young Citizen of the Year for 2017 is Christina Emmanouel.
After overcoming a movement disorder in her early teenage years, Christina discovered a passion for youth and disability services that drove her to become an advocate.
Christina is in her fourth year of service with Vinnies where she volunteers as an Advanced Trained Leader on Kids’ and Teens’ Respite Programs for disadvantaged youth and has begun volunteering with Camp Quality as a companion to kids with cancer.
Christina is a member of the Sutherland Shire Youth Council and Access Committee is a headspace Miranda Youth Reference Group member and is on the National Disability Services Sub Committee for Children and Young People.
Christina is also an active participant and volunteer with numerous other community initiatives, including Nagle Centre for Youth, a White Ribbon volunteer, a Justice of the Peace Camp Quality and many more.
2017 Community Group of the Year The group selected as 2017 Community Group of the Year is Cronulla Rotary.
This is a small but determined group of hardworking volunteers who embrace their responsibilities to help the Shire community.
The club is involved in supporting many worthy community initiatives including cooking dinners for Ronald McDonald House at Randwick, hosting an annual golf day at Cronulla Golf Course which this year raised money for research into Motor Neurone Disease, the U Turn the Wheel project helping young drives be aware of their responsibilities, active with the National Bowel Scan Project and support of Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children which brings children with life threatening conditions to Australia for medical treatment not available in their countries.
Cronulla Rotary members host families, provide assistance at the hospital and transport.
In addition, Cronulla Rotary has been involved with Sutherland Shire Council’s Australia Day in Cronulla for many years.