Lorne celebrates community legends

AMID difficult times, Lorne Central has looked to foster positivity and recognise some of the community’s strongest contributors.

Their Lorne Legends initiative sees them ask the community to nominate unsung heroes from within the community to be named as one of four Lorne Legends.

Each Tuesday the café names a new legend and gives them a $100 voucher to Lorne Central, as well as giving the person who nominated them a high tea voucher for two.

Lorne Central owner Bryce Newcombe said the idea for Lorne Legends came from a desire to draw attention to positive work happening in the area.

“I was talking to a bunch of local hospitality guys. The conversation started off about the culture of your team, and then it got onto the culture of your town and how you can give back to the town.

“It’s been awesome. When people get scared, they can get angry, and that’s a natural response. But this takes the fear out of it and is focusing on the positive which is really important.”

Mr Newcombe put a post on Lorne Central’s Facebook asking for nominations and was soon inundated with responses.

He said there were plenty more than four people who were deserving of recognition.

“You could say the whole town deserves it, but we just want to pick out four people who during COVID have gone above and beyond.”

Pakitu Henry was the first Lorne Legend to be announced.

During the first months of lockdown, Mr Henry helped backpackers stranded in Lorne find food, accommodation, work and whatever other support they may need.

This week Jason Phieler was announced as the second Lorne Legend.

Mr Phieler is a nurse at Lorne Community Hospital. He travelled to Darwin to help with Australia’s first coronavirus cases and has since taken been a great asset to the community, answering any questions people and groups have regarding the virus and what can be done to reduce its spread.

The two remaining Lorne Legends will be announced on Lorne Central’s Facebook page.