WHEN Lena Vicary was a young girl, her immigrant parents instilled in her to not only take the opportunities Australia provided, but to give back.
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That is how she has lived her life and more than 70 years later, the tireless volunteer has been named Echuca's citizen of the year.
Accepting her award at Campaspe Shire and Murray River Council's Australia Day awards today, the Echuca Regional Health stalwart was humble as always.
“It feels strange to be recognised for doing something that I just love doing,” she said.
“I am the daughter of migrants that came here in the 1920s - my father from Italy and my mother from England. And they always impressed upon my family that Australia was a wonderful country with lots of opportunities but we had to learn not to just take but to give and that was instilled in me as a little girl and it's still with me now.”
The 80-year-old's association with volunteering started in the 1950s, when she started her training as a nurse, while her long-standing relationship with ERH (Echuca hospital) spans back to the early 1970s.
A mother of six daughters, Lena initially worked at ERH washing floors and relieving the diet cook.
She was later appointed to the pilot scheme position of physiotherapy aide, before helping to form Friends of Glanville in 1983.
Lena also volunteers with the Echuca Anglican Church guild, helping with Meals on Wheels and disability support needs, carries out Bible sessions at her home, pastoral care at Southern Cross and Glanville Village aged care facilities and church services and helps out at church working bees.
“I was born to do things and I just love what I do,” she said.
“When you're speaking to and visiting people or raising money and you know it's going to be helping someone, you get a whole lot back. It echoes back into your system and it makes you feel good and you just keep going.”
That was why it was such a shock to receive the award, Lena said.
“I was trembling. I still can't quite believe it,” she said.
Echuca's sportsperson of the year went to Echuca Football Netball Club, while the club's under 18’s football team took out junior sportsperson of the year.
“The EFNC is very proud to be recognised for our efforts in an iconic Australian sport,” past secretary Peter Young said.
“I'd like to acknowledge the efforts of our men and women footballers and netballers who got the job done match day, the dedicated group of coaches, support staff, committee, parents and volunteers who came together and work as a team to provide the young men and women of our community with an opportunity to play sport and grow together in a supportive team environment.”
Echuca-Moama's Winter Blues Festival not only took out Echuca's community event of the year, but the Campaspe Shire award too.
Last year's event focused on equality, with a 50 per cent gender balance of leading and up and coming blues performers.
While the event - which volunteers have been running since 1999 - is completely free to attend, it was calculated to have attracted $10 million of economic return for the region.
“It has gone from being the quietest weekend of the year in Echuca to the busiest,” organiser Peter Williams said.
“What we've done is turn something that was hopeless into something that is just enormous.
“We have a team of about a dozen volunteers and each year they get in and do jobs and just get it done and most of them get no personal benefit because they're not a business but they're just committed to this community.
“We love doing it. We love providing something free because it gives something back to the community.”
Over the river, Moama Lions Club won Murray River Council's community group of the year.
The 16-member club was recognised for its ongoing support of the Moama community over many years with projects such as Moama Lions Community Village and Southern Cross Care Moama Vegetable Garden Project.
The project allows residents to improve their quality of life by restoring some of their independence by growing vegetables, just as they used to at their previous homes.
The club also supports ERH, with recent donations towards the development of the new Cancer Wellness Centre and runs the annual Carols by Candlelight each year at Kerrabee Soundshell, Youth of the Year and junior public speaking events.
Echuca-Moama Rotary Club awards went to Gunbower pig farmer Tim Kingma for his contribution to the pork industry and Moama Anglican Grammar School student Catrina Paul for her ongoing charity work.
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