Altruists honoured for making a better world

NOMINATIONS for the Victorian Regional Achievement and Community Awards were announced with three Ballarat initiatives landing a spot on the list.

These honours are specifically aimed to encourage, acknowledge and reward contributions made by individuals, communities and businesses throughout regional and rural Victoria in making it a better place.

Smythes Creek resident, Brendan Johnston, is up for the one of the community awards for his outstanding effort in cleaning up local roadsides.

During the COVID-19 lockdown period, Mr Johnston regularly took walks around his area in a bid to get out of the house for some fresh air and got into a habit of picking up trash along the way.

“It started off when I would just go for a walk and I just noticed a bit of rubbish around,” he said.

“Next time I went, I brought a bag with me to collect it and then it just exploded from there.

“I just do what I do and I don’t think of it as being something award winning.”

The Phoenix College teacher was nominated anonymously for the award to commemorate his constant hard work and commitment to cleaning up.

Mr Johnston said this work was less about receiving praise and more about sustaining both the beauty of the region and his mental health.

“If I can go along and pick up a straw, it makes myself feel warm and fuzzy at the least,” he said.

“It would be great to see something positive to come out of it, it would be great if people took a bit more ownership of not just the side of the road but also what’s theirs.

“My aim would be to encourage people to take a bag with them when they put their bins out and walk 100 metres to the right and left and pick up rubbish to make the area look a little nicer.”

Alongside Mr Johnston, two other Ballarat-based nominations have been selected for the 2020 Victorian Regional Achievement and Community Awards.

In celebrating Lou Ridsdale’s Food Is Free Green Space, the project was nominated for the Regional Development Victoria Leadership and Innovation Award.

The third nomination goes out to City of Ballarat SONIKA specifically its FreeZA initiative which runs positive and inclusive youth events for the Committee for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning Community Resilience Award.