During the month of May, Australians celebrate the invaluable contributions that dedicated volunteers make to our nation. National Volunteer Week 2020 dates are Monday 18th May to Sunday 24th May. One of our hardest working volunteers is Grace Pennisi Maynard. Grace is the leader of the Hinchinbrook Community Support Centre (HCSC) Emergency Relief Food Collection team. Four times a week she and her assistant collect bread, sweet breads and groceries which are donated by Coles and Woolworths for distribution to those in need. This is just her early morning job. Grace is always busy in the community in a voluntary role. Grace is a volunteer Facilitator of the CORES (Community Response to Eliminating Suicide) HCSC team. This team presents One day Training in the intervention and prevention of suicide, a very worthy cause in our community. A record of 42 years of volunteering as a gymnastic coach earned Grace the “Beryl Prior Award” for community service. As a young girl Grace developed a passion for gymnastics that has lasted all her life. At 20 she became a Gymnastic coach training under the umbrella of the Queensland National Fitness Organization, now known as the Queensland Gymnastic Organization. Grace plays a major role in coaching young people across the district and is a member of the Tully Gymnastics Club. That’s not all she did or all she does. As a young Australian, Grace was Treasurer of both JAYCEES and Ingham Rural Youth clubs. Her involvement with these opened up the world to her. On tour with Rural Youth, she visited 22 European countries, America and Canada, and with JAYCEES she visited Japan. For 22 years, Grace has been a CUB Scout Leader, training young people in the indoor and outdoor skills of life. She attended Scout Jamborees and CUB camping events and festivals where she led and supervised in the training and development of life skills in our young locals. Grace is lining up to complete required updated training for outdoor skills so she can continue to be a Leader. More recently, Grace joined the “Sing Australia” choir that performs on many occasions at Aged Care facilities, events in the community such as, Christmas, local Raintree Markets, Concerts, Senior’s celebrations, accepting any invitation that comes its way. Although Grace has not been blessed with children, she attends the Ingham State High School Tuck Shop on a weekly basis just to help out. Grace also volunteers twice monthly as a caller for Bingo and Hoy at the Everglow Community Links organization. When not out on one of her missions, Grace enjoys her hobby doing puzzles and, as her trade was a commercial cook, she still enjoys cooking in keeping with her Italian culture. She brings that culture to the fore when she volunteers at the Italian Australian festival every year. She has done this since inception of the Festival, 25 years ago. Grace loves to help people, meet people and be involved in her local community. She loves to be active and to be busy doing worthwhile jobs. Grace’s motto is “in giving you receive”. An important life lesson for Grace is that there is no excuse for boredom or laziness. There is always someone or something that one can do for and do well. Grace very proudly speaks of her mum who has been her inspiration all her life. From her, she learned to work hard, pay attention to detail and just be nice. She has also been inspired by Trevor Rainor, coach of the Tully Gymnastic Club and her mentor. Grace’s contribution to our local community is immeasurable but greatly appreciated. Thank you Grace.
A big thank you to staff member Marilyn for writing this week's article. As always, the article will be posted on our HCSC website.
A big thank you to staff member Marilyn for writing this week's article. As always, the article will be posted on our HCSC website.
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