Terrigal’s Paulina Maniskas awarded OAM

Pauline Maniskas says she was surprised and overwhelmed when she found out she’d been awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to the community of the Central Coast.

For more than two decades she has dedicated herself to people with a disability on the Central Coast while also volunteering at Our Lady Star of the Sea, Terrigal.

“I did an AIN course in 1999 and I visited Camp Breakaway at San Remo, a charitable organisation that enhances the lives of all peoples with a disability and allows respite for the carers and families,” she says. “It was there I found a calling to help make a difference in their lives.”

In 2005, Pauline became a founding member and secretary of Central Coast Disabled Surfers Association of Australia. She has also volunteered for Youth Off the Streets for more than two decades.

The OAM held special significance to her, as the quiet parting gift of a beloved friend.

“I found out I was nominated four days before my best friend of 55 years died,” she says. “Two days later I found out it was Yvonne that nominated me. She knows and is shining down on me from heaven.”

She says her Catholic faith has been a guiding light for her service throughout the decades.

“I have always felt part of the parish family even when I was a young girl of 12 or 13, my nickname being ‘Sister Mary’. My involvement at Star of the Sea Terrigal for the past 42 years just reinforces that,” she says.

“I also think ‘there but the grace of God go I’ in many of life’s situations.

I am also a firm believer that God will not give me something that I cannot handle. He will be by my side.”

The award has already brought increased attention to Central Coast Disabled Surfers Association of Australia.

“We held an event in early December with 40 disabled surfers and some 80 volunteers, then early February our numbers were 52 surfers and 152 volunteers,” she says.

“I think the attention to the cause was significant in increasing numbers. My next project is more disabled parking for those 53 disabled surfers at the beach.”