Amy Large Volunteer of the Year winners announced

Thursday 24 Mat 2018

Inner West Council’s annual Amy Large Volunteer Award Ceremony and Volunteer Thank You Night was held last night at Ashfield Town Hall.

The Balmain Para-Rowing Program Team took out the 2018 Amy Large Volunteer of the Year major award as well as the 2018 Volunteer Team of the Year.

The members of the team have built from scratch the largest para-rowing program in Australia with the focus on ensuring that persons with all levels of ability are given the opportunity to participate from their base at Balmain Rowing Club.

The Balmain Para-Rowing Team will now be nominated for the 2018 NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards.

The 2018 Adult Volunteer of the Year award was jointly awarded to Collin Whitten-Amadon in recognition of his commitment and contribution volunteering with the Exodus Foundation; Jamie De Paulo in recognition of his significant contribution to Marrickville Library and History Services; and Joanna Karalis-Colin for her founding of the volunteer organisation, We All Care, in early 2017.

The 2018 Senior Volunteer of the Year was jointly awarded to Mary Elizabeth McNally, Sharon Laura and Long Fei Wang. The 2018 Young Volunteer of the Year award was jointed awarded to Amanda Belton, Vincent Li, Sahani Jayawardane and Daniel Lahood.

David Woods was posthumously awarded the 2018 Amy Large Award for a lifelong contribution to sport in the inner west and across NSW and Australia both for his contribution to water polo and for championing public school sport.

The event last night also celebrated all volunteers for their outstanding contributions to help local families and individuals, community organisations, the environment and other programs and projects.

The annual awards honour local resident and much loved volunteer Amy Large, who passed away in 2015.

Amy was widely known for her long years of service supporting Birchgrove Public School committees, the Birchgrove Scorpions Junior Rugby League team, the Balmain Town Hall and the Back to Balmain Day committees, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

The awards, formerly known as Volunteer of the Year, acknowledge outstanding contributions to local families, organisations, programs and individuals in need.

For more information on the awards, go to www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/amylargeawards

For print quality images of the awards night, contact the Communication team