Page 1654 - Week 05 - Thursday, 11 May 2017
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have been possible without the estimated 4,500 community volunteers involved with running food stalls and performing and managing the range of cultural activities enjoyed by around 280,000 people over the three days.
The Community Services Directorate partnered with Volunteering and Contact ACT to coordinate volunteers for the more official jobs that needed to be done to keep everyone safe and comfortable throughout the Festival. Through this partnership, 144 volunteers were engaged in a variety of roles across the festival footprint through North Canberra Bears and in the children’s sanctuary. In addition, the directorate recruited about 90 staff to volunteer for critical roles such as area wardens and communication support for the festival command centre. We thank them sincerely for their work. It would have been impossible to conduct the festival as smoothly and safely as we did, or indeed at all, without the assistance of these volunteers.
Volunteering and Contact ACT hosts key events such as the 2017 volunteering awards, held at the beginning of National Volunteer Week, which I was pleased to attend on Monday evening. National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to celebrate volunteers, and the 2017 volunteering awards acknowledged the contributions of outstanding individual and team volunteers across our community. It was a privilege to present the 2017 volunteer of the year award, given to an individual whose volunteering contribution has made a significant impact in the Canberra community region in 2016-17. The recipient of this year’s award is Ms Juyanti Gupta.
Ms Gupta is an active president, chair and executive member of many associations that perform an astonishing range of community functions and activities. These include supporting women of diverse cultural backgrounds, conducting and facilitating community events that support social inclusion, providing strategic advice to government on issues affecting women, and supporting numerous other community organisations. Ms Gupta is an active volunteer for multicultural communities, including the Tibetan, Mon and Tongan communities. She spends many hours outside of work interpreting for people in hospital. She does all this, 20 to 30 hours of voluntary work per week, while holding down a full-time job in the commonwealth public service.
I also had the absolute pleasure a few weeks ago to award the 2017 young Canberra citizen of the year to Mustafa Ehsan. Mr Ehsan is an exceptional role model for young people in the Canberra community and is passionate about creating a socially inclusive community, which he does through his many volunteering roles. Since arriving in Canberra as an asylum seeker and unaccompanied minor, Mr Ehsan has volunteered hundreds of hours organising community events and establishing the Canberra Kangaroos football—that is, soccer—team for young Afghan refugees and asylum seekers. Mr Ehsan has been their coach, manager and captain responsible for everything from organising training sessions through to leading the team to national tournaments.
Since 2012, Mr Ehsan has also coordinated many social events for young refugees, many of whom have no family in Australia. These social events have provided young people with the opportunity to feel connected and included in our Canberra community. Mr Ehsan has also fundraised for community activities and shared his
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