Celebrating Community Diversity
Celebrating Community Diversity In 2015 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region celebrates 10 years of community leadership through the Leaders Forum program across the shires of Ballarat, Golden Plains, Pyrenees, Hepburn and Moorabool. On average graduates of the Leaders Forum community leadership program volunteer more than 15 hours of support a month to community organisations locally. With more than 270 graduates nearly 50% of graduates have doubled their volunteering hours as a result of completing the annual program. The financial impact of volunteering based on a state government value of $45 an hour is more than $8 million dollars locally for community organisations. The Leaders Forum program is a unique journey for all, engaging diverse participants, leaders and communities, to think about the future. The learnings enhance your personal and professional lives. We hope your enjoy reading our graduates stories. 2 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
For more information contact: Sofia Fiusco | Executive Officer eo@lbwr.com.au | 0400 059 104 www.lbwr.org Leadership Ballarat & Western Region @LeadershipBWR #lbwr
Ballarat Shire – Aldona Kmiec
Barry Kay
Ballarat White Ribbon Day Committee and Ambassador One of the main reasons I volunteer in support of White Ribbon, the campaign to stop violence against women, is because I am appalled that one of the major health issues for women in our society is violence, perpetrated by men. I want to do what I can to change this, to make the world a better place.
increasingly agitated, and then I realised that it was because of me; it appeared to her that I was following her. I was appalled that, unwittingly, I was frightening her. I wanted to call out to her that it was okay, I was no threat, but I knew I’d only increase her alarm. So I simply stopped walking and let her walk away.
I think my affinity with the White Ribbon campaign has its origins in a relatively small, yet profound event in my life.
I was struck by the notion that I lived in a society where a man could be perceived as a threat to a woman in certain circumstances, simply by being a man. I have a wife and a daughter and sisters and female friends and I want them all, and all women, children — and men too, for that matter — to feel safe and secure in the world. Through my involvement in White Ribbon I may not be able to do everything to make things better, but I can do what I can — and that makes me feel good.
Some years ago I got off a tram late at night in Melbourne. A woman got off at the same stop as me and happened to be walking in the same direction I was, just a little ahead of me. For several hundred metres, crossing intersections and turning corners we coincidentally happened to be walking the exact same route, she a few metres ahead of me. I began to notice that she was becoming 4 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
Fiona Whatley
Ballarat Community House Committee Taking part in the Leaders Forum program has been an eye opening and life changing experience. It’s one of those experiences that you can look back on and say it made you look at and think about things differently. The breadth and depth of the topics covered is huge which increases your knowledge of broader issues within the community, allowing you to have a more thorough understanding of issues outside of your normal day to day activities.
The people that you meet both within your course and throughout the sessions are fantastic, inspiring people, each with a story to tell, and many will become lifelong friends, and partners in community leadership. I’ve learnt that it is important to speak up for what you believe in, and to have your view heard, because if you don’t no one else will. But most of all that people are wonderful beings, each trying to make the world a better place. Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book 5
Charles Zhang
Voice FM Presenter, Chinese Australian Cultural Society 2015 Citizen of the Year Ballarat When I first came to Ballarat in 1998, there were not many Chinese in the town, and not many Chinese volunteers in any service clubs or organisations. Now we would have at least 60 to 80 volunteers from the Ballarat Chinese community doing all kinds of volunteering work on regular basis at special events, school educations, charities, 6 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
service clubs, sports and music entertaining recreation and environments. What I believe? “One for all, all for one�! How can I face the real world? By being positive with solutions and enjoying helping people with all that I can.
Golden Plains Shire – Liz Crothers
Deb Milera
Rokewood/Corindhap Football - Netball Club Coach Deb Milera is a proud Narungga Woman and my people come from the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.
No matter where I am, I will continue to empower my people to stand up for their basic human rights.
Leaders come from all walks of life. As the leader you need to be able to empower people to stand up and advocate for what they believe in. The most important thing that I have learnt is that it is ok to be me.
My hope for the future is that my children will live in a world free of racism and hatred and with equality to live happy, healthy, safe and successful lifestyles.
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Matt Vallance
Chip for Charity Event Organiser There’s something addictive about being part of an event as a volunteer. What starts off as an idea for an event soon blossoms into a passion and that passion will soon attract others to volunteer their time and service. From this, a cyclical nature is born with ideas being generated for bigger and better things until your small idea becomes something that can truly make a difference within the community. The difference doesn’t have to be financial, it can be as small as offering information to people who would otherwise not receive it, but the difference has been beneficial and there is a true sense of satisfaction that comes with this.
Since completing the Leaders Forum program I’ve asked myself “what contribution can I make that will create a difference?” The answer didn’t come until a small idea popped into my head that has since grown into something a lot bigger with the help of other passionate volunteers. Hope has become the cornerstone of every decision we make at Chip For Charity, the hope that we can benefit the community, hope that we can increase exposure for not-for-profit organisations within the community and hope that we can inspire others to volunteer and support the community that they live in. To lose hope is to lose sight of what can be achieved.
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Larelle Kuczer
L2P Mentor Rotary Club of Ballarat, Youth Gramps Champs Oxfam Trailwalker Team I have realized that leadership doesn’t have to be in a formal capacity, have a degree attached or be aligned with a particular position in an organisation. For me as a little fish I can still make a difference simply because I want too. The benefit of connecting with a diverse range of people has been profound.
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I had the opportunity to gain exposure to a range of people, personalities and thinking styles that I would never have otherwise had through the Leaders Forum program I feel much richer for the experience and have challenged and grown in so many ways. I feel more connected to our community and I enjoy my increased awareness.
Pyrenees Shire – Michelle Dunn
Jennifer Ganske
Avoca Chinese Garden Committee Beaufort Agricultural Show Judge Community is what defines my sense of place. It gives me a strong feeling of belonging. This allows me to create an extended family in the geographic area in which I choose to live, create and raise my children in.
I hope to widen this. In the case of regional living outside of Ballarat it is imperative to volunteer. Massive amounts of our community is fuelled by the volunteer work force. We need volunteers to help keep our community vibrant healthy and strong.
As an immigrant it is essential that my community fill the void of an extended family and heritage for me. I hope that I will be able to offer my skills in communication strategic planning, and help to inspire our government (local and state) to work with integrity, ingenuity and excellence.
As a working mum I am unable to fill the rolls my mother-in-law has held volunteering in our community but I am striving to broaden my options that will incorporate my strengths and areas of expertise. I hope to help usher in a new template for volunteering in these regional communities.
I have a world view and experience to draw from living around the globe. 12 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
Tim Matthews
Ballarat Business Centre Board Yuille Park P-8 Community Support Leaders Forum highlighted various ways to engage in the most effective and influential manner, maximising the opportunity for us to learn flourish and make a difference in our region and beyond. I think sometimes we forget that we have the power to act, change or a least play a part in major change within our control. It is a choice. There is always a reluctance to act and understand beyond our own self, or to think we don’t have the power to change something.
We each have a different set of skills to use, a different way of dealing with circumstances, of doing business of voicing our opinion. We have a choice, do we care enough to whinge or do we care enough to think differently and more importantly act. Do we spread what’s wrong or do we spread what’s right?’ If we want to change something, we have to do something. What will you do? Together we can inspire more action in others.
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Pauline O’Shannessy-Dowling
Art Gallery of Ballarat Member - Guide To me community means being part of something that is bigger than me; bigger than the individual. Volunteering provides the opportunity to contribute to that bigger entity in a positive, constructive and meaningful way. I really want to be a positive force and role model within the community. I hope that my desire to follow my dreams as a practicing artist, can enable this positivity. 14 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
Volunteering is invaluable. I have been volunteering in various roles for the past 20 years in both the arts and community sector. Volunteering provides such positive benefits to the individual who volunteers, the recipient institution and the wider community. Volunteering is self-affirming and life affirming.
Hepburn Shire – Morgan Williams
Michelle Symes
Baking Our Blues Away Founder Since starting Baking our blues away in 2011 I have experienced so much joy. Not only through giving hand baked goodies to people doing it a little tough, but also the feedback I receive on a regular basis from individuals that have been touched by the initiative.
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Through the power of social media, I have been able to engage with people all over the world, reinforcing the importance of highlighting depression and anxiety and how vital it is to check in on people and have a regular conversation. Happy baking everyone! http://bakingourbluesaway.com.au/
Morgan Williams
Daylesford Dharma School, Daylesford Secondary College Youth Enterprise Mentor I love being around people, they fascinate me! For me community is always made up of people, supportive groups that come together out of a shared vision, goal, interest or simply for social stimulus. Growing up in the suburbs of Melbourne my community was small; bound by school, local shops and a few streets of friends. This has expanded immensely in our digital world we can now meet, interact and chat with online communities or my family, all over the world, I love that too!
So much of our Western society is based on monetary values. Removing some of this from our daily lives paves the way for an exchange-based system of mutual learning, growth, understanding and expansion. We all benefit from helping each other. The value of volunteering is really beyond measure; it’s a feeling of giving and receiving without expectations, encouraging the world and the people around us to learn and grow.
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Sam Mackley
Owner - Daylesford Bakery Love Your Sister Supporter I am very fortunate to have what I have so I try to find opportunities in my life and work where I can give donations or time. Rather than seeing bread in my bakery at the end of the day go to waste or get sold 18 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
for low cost, I think there’s a far better benefit to the community if it goes to those who can’t afford to put food on the table every night. I find it really worthwhile to help those in need.
Moorabool Shire – Jade Smithard
Bernie Fradd
Country Fire Authority The true test of leadership is where you can influence others when you are not in a position of power. My year as a participant with the Leaders Forum program was a life changing experience. It gave me the opportunity and environment to alter my views on a lot of things in a safe and trusting environment. To see and hear individual’s life stories with all their joy, pain and honesty was truly amazing. 20 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
Over the past few years this philosophy has allowed me to confront situations and people in a manner I would not have been able to in the past. The Leaders Forum model does this best in Ballarat by engaging individuals with a passion for their community and work and allowing them to “get on with it”.
Aldona Kmiec
City of Ballarat Cultural Diversity Advisor For me hope comes from within and from without. It comes from my experiences in life, as well as from my family and mentors. Hope is a great gift you can give to somebody and a wonderful thing to receive. My desire for doing something new in the community stems from my culture, my family history and their involvement in local affairs back in Poland. I’m very inspired by Polish history and what you can achieve in the worst of circumstances if you have a good leader. Migration is a wonderful experience that gives you a taste for many things and what you tend to do is to pick the best ones and
try to instil them in the place where you live. When I moved to Ballarat, the city was a bit bland and grey. I thought I could try to create something for myself that would have an impact on the community by doing something I’d never done before. Being a Multicultural Ambassador has encouraged me to learn more about other cultures and to advocate on their behalf in public. The people I’ve met through the program have become my friends and I have come to understand what makes them pack their belongings and move to a foreign country.
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Anthony Schreenan
Place Manager City of Ballarat What has surprised me is the impact that the Leaders Forum program continues to have on me as I go about my work and life on a day to day basis, how I consider things slightly differently, how I think that I can make an impact, and that how the program is about developing community leaders over time, not making them in one year. My thoughts have led to thinking that community leadership is many things, it is about inspiring participation from those around you, it is about having the 22 Leadership Ballarat & Western Region Golden Book
courage to put up your hand up and it is about assisting in the development of strong sustainable communities, it is also something that is ever changing, and these changes are influenced by my own experiences. Experiencing a year of learning with a group of people that I did not know at the beginning of the year, became a community as the group shared weddings, births, tears and most importantly laughter throughout.
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Nick Clare Adam Criddle Nathan Curnow Talei Deacon Michelle Dunn Katrina Fanning
Albert Ferguson Robert Fillisch Darcy Franklin Paul Hutchison Sarah Jamison-Jones Adrian Kenny
Aldona Kmiec Pennie Mathieson Tim Matthews Deb Milera Michelle O’Brien Justin O’Gorman
Orry Pilven Kimberly Roberts Anne Robertson Melanie Schoo Rick Stephens Fiona Strauss
Diana Sullivan Jennifer Trengove Dom Uljanic Leon Underwood Sonia van Dorssen Lisa West
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Chris Alcock Ashley Barker Katrina Beer Chloe Biggin Kate Burrows Trent Bursill
Anna Doughan Michael Flynn Mick Gorfine Ross Huntington Daniel Jones Jodie Kennedy
Corina Kozaris Robert Ladd Kylie Long Samantha Mackley Taya McPhee Adrian Misseri
Sandi Murphy Greg Murray Jaclyn Reriti Anthony Riding Carolyn Robertson Kathie Taylor
Matt Vallance Steph Wallace Fiona Whatley
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Jeff Ashmore Tim Atkinson Jo Brennan Belinda Burley Andrea Carroll Angela Connor
Andrew Eales Dr Nina Fotinatos Leeanne Greenwood Michelle Harper Barry Kay Marnie Kerridge
Larelle Kuczer Beth Lamont Andrew McManus Bobby Mehta Simone Noelker Tim Owen
Jodie Perry Jo Powell Norman Prueter Janelle Ryan Jodie Rykers Sean Simpson
Christopher Stevens Dawn Tschujasehenko
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Nadia Attar-Bashi Jo Curkpatrick Wayne Gason Sam Gent Mona Hatwal Ashley Heenan
Bianca Jones Rhonda Lowe Sarah Lum Matthew Lyttle Simon Manterfield Peter McConvill
Mark Powell James Riggs Steve Roberts Peter Rutley Frances Salenga Anthony Schreenan
Nicole Roberts Jude Sobey Daniel Sutton Nathan Thorp Tim Waller Chris Waters
Annie Young Igor Zovko
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Shane Armstrong Jane Barclay Denielle Beardmore Andrew Brisbane Olivia Brown Sheree Collins
Brett Davis Serena Eldridge Pauline Fay Karin Franck Katherine Gillespie Lynette Heenan
Anita Holdsworth Geoff Johnson Wayne Jones Kylie Lang Sheree Lowe Jed Manley
Jade Morrison David Moyle Judy-Ann Quilliam Mel Razmjoo Ben Reeve Adam Rogers
Mark Simpson Gabby Spiller Greg Stewart Gavin Svanosio Mark Thornton Charles Zhang
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Chev Chevalier Angela Clough Karl Curran Glenn Drew Karen Eaton Ewen Fletcher
Sue Flockhart Carmel Flynn Andrew Henwood Mick Hynes Cassie Lindsay Heather McBean
Adam McSwain Shannon Meadows Chris Moors Lydia Mzondo Sean O'Keeffe Jarrod Page
Krys Pekin Melissa Polkinghorne Maria Rice Paul Wallace Andrew Wallace Leanne Wilson
Fleur Baker Michael Boatman
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Jodi Barclay Rachel Browning Andrew Burgess Nicole Cassells Matt Chapman Bronwen Clarke
Luke Cooper Matthew Dawson Brett Edgington Debbie Fankhauser Todd Fletcher Bernie Fradd
Amanda Kay Lauren Mann Chris Martin Genevieve Martin Rachaele May Sharine Shaw
Stuart McKee Katie Morris Kurtis Noyce Catherine Riddoch Paul Rogan Lu Scott
Maree Stevenson-Chamings Chris Wright
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Tavis Baker Peter Boadle Gayle Boschert Ben Brown Vikki Chaffey
Kate Diamond-Keith Troy Everett Peter Forbes Belinda Fyffe Kerri Gordon
Douglas Gowans Narelle Hibberd Chris Hutton John King Andrew Nuske
Tony Redmond Karen Robinson Caius Ryan Arti Shaw Claire Stafford
Robyn Stevens Michelle Symes Kath Venters Tracey Wilson
Natalie Abbott Carolyn Barrie Olivia Bates Tamara Boyd Ange Carey
Colin Dorn Karen Doyle Luke Dunne Jenny Fitzgerald Robert Gibson
Scott Hebbard Naomi Irvin Liz Leorke Kym Ludbrook Tennille McLauchlan
Luke Mullane Paul Murphy Travis Polkinghorne Tania Rigby John Ruyg
Michael Smith Mark Spenceley Matt Stevens Marietta Thompson Adam Wiseman
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“Opening doors, opening minds” Together we are celebrating the beauty of our diverse people and shires. We are committed to a positive and sustainable future for all.
Recruiting now for 2016… visit www.lbwr.org
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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
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Illustrator – Margie Balazic Portraits by Liz Crothers – Bold Communications