Cronulla's Joyce Ient has a lot in common with Captain Sir Tom Moore, but is no copycat.
The great grandmother, who will soon be 94, raised $1185 for a shire-based charity, which supports a community in a poverty-stricken area of Tanzania, by walking laps of the basement car park in her Gerrale Street unit block.
Every day in June, Mrs Ient, who uses a walker for support, spent half an hour completing 12 laps of the car park - a total of 77,400 steps.
Mrs Ient began exercising in her car park well before 100-year-old British WWII veteran "Captain Tom" gained world-wide accolades by walking laps of his garden, lifting the spirits of a nation battling coronavirus and raising 33 million pounds ($61.8 million) for the UK National Health Service.
Before the pandemic forced older people, in particular, into home isolation, Mrs Ient used to walk the Esplanade.
"With lockdown, I began walking 10 laps of the car park every day, but when I started doing it for charity I increased it to 12 to make it an extra challenge," she said.
"I had already been doing it for months when ["Captain Tom"] started, but he did spur me on."
Mrs Ient set her sights on raising $500 through sponsorship of her efforts, but ended up more than doubling her target.
Her family provided strong support - she has three children, eight grandchildren, one great grandchild and another two on the way.
The fund raising was for the Katoke Trust for Overseas Aid, a grass roots Christian charity, which was founded by Associate Professor Alan Watson AM and is run by a group of passionate volunteers, most of whom are shire residents.
The charity funds supports education and health projects and contributes in other ways to one of the world's poorest and most vulnerable communities in the Katole area of Tanzania.
Mrs Ient and family members attend St Paul's Anglican Church, Gymea, where Associate Professor Alan Watson and other members of the congregation are staunch supporters of the charity.
The Katoke EOFY (End of Financial Year) Appeal aimed to raise $50,000 for the Katoke-Lweru Secondary School through participants running, walking and cycling.
The amount raised was $111,933 - and Mrs Ient was voted the most inspiring participant.
