Clean machine: Lions recognise Leopold legend

IN A TIME when bad news can dominate, Leopold’s Tom Donlen, 19, is a beacon of light, photographed by a local sweeping up glass from an accident he was not involved in.

Trevor Frost, 35, said he runs the Facebook Leopold Community Page when he stumbled across an online post praising the actions of Tom.

“A tow truck took away cars involved in an accident on the Bellarine Highway, Leopold. They left the glass all over the road near where Tom lives,” Mr Frost said.

“Tom saw cars swerving for weeks afterwards to avoid the glass so went home and got a broom, brush and shovel, then proceeded to clean up the site. It was such a good feeling to see someone Tom’s age doing something unprompted for the community.”

Mr Frost, a passionate community man himself, recently joined the Leopold Lions Club and wanted to recognise Tom’s selflessness.

“I run the Facebook community page and sadly have to share posts about graffiti quite frequently. I often clean it up myself or if I put the call out, people normally come along and help me out,” he said.

“When I saw what Tom did, I wanted to bring it to the attention of the Lions. I know they like to recognise those things – I got a certificate once off them for doing something similar.

“The Leopold Lions organised the certificate and a gift card for setting a good example to others, which we presented Tom recently.”

Tom said he’d observed cars attempting to avoid the glass for several weeks after the accident when he decided to fix the problem himself.

“I thought if the glass is annoying me then it must be annoying other people. I thought about how dangerous it could be to other motorists, pedestrians or cyclists. I waited until it was school time and the traffic slowed,” he said.

“I grabbed a broom and a garbage bag and cleaned it up. I spoke to the crossing lady who said they’d called the council about it but understandably they’re flat out at the minute. She was so appreciative of what I was doing.

“I didn’t notice anyone had taken my photo until the post went up and Trevor contacted me. For the Lions to do a certificate up and give a gift card, it was really humbling.”

Tom said he was taken aback about how much Mr Frost does for the community, buying the chemicals and cleaning equipment to remove graffiti out of his own pocket.

“Speaking with Trevor, he was sharing with me things he does on behalf of the community. You don’t do things like this for notoriety,” Tom said.

“I read some of the comments on the post and it felt really nice to see people say that about me. That’s not the reason you do it though.”

Mr Frost said Leopold residents’ reactions had been extremely positive with people moved by Tom’s actions.

“It’s nice to post something positive and people were happy to read a good story. I tracked Tom down and he was really chuffed. He said, ‘You didn’t have to do that’.

“I just said to Tom ‘Well you didn’t need to do what you did but you took the time out and we need more people like you’. He’s just a stand-up model citizen, we need more people like him who take pride in their community.”