Mr Turner is the co-founder and managing director of Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation, which grew out of tragedy.
On December 1, 2004, seven-year-old Zaidee collapsed at home in her mother’s arms complaining of head pain.
She was rushed to Goulburn Valley Health for an MRI, then flown to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne for emergency surgery, where surgeons found that the bleed was too severe to treat.
She died aged seven years and 22 days.
But it was only months earlier that Zaidee made clear her wishes to become an organ and tissue donor, with her family honouring those wishes.
“She gave the greatest gift of all, she donated seven parts of her body, so seven people benefited from Zaidee’s gifts when she died,” Mr Turner said.
She was the only child under 16 in Victoria to donate in 2004.
Asking how children who donated were recognised, the Turners found there was no symbol or national campaign.
Their answer was Zaidee’s Rainbow Shoelaces, inspired by the rainbow laces she wore as a child.
“Death is dark and grim, we wanted something bright and colourful,” Mr Turner said.
The seven colours in the rainbow laces represent the seven days of the week that people that need a transplant sit at home hoping to receive that magic call.
One in five people will never get that call and die waiting on a transplant list in Australia.
“We don’t say there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, we say there’s an organ or tissue for a transplant,” Mr Turner said.
Now, 22 years on, more than two million pairs of laces have been sold or given away.
Sporting teams from the most elite to grassroots levels have worn them, with the foundation now offering items for many sports, including cricket bat grips and swimming gear.
Despite the national reach of the campaign, Mr Turner remains humble.
“We’re just a normal family, nothing special about the Turners, two kids and a dog living here in Shepparton,” he said.
Of the nomination, he said the recognition belonged to his daughter.
“It’s not for me, it’s for Zaidee,” Mr Turner said.
“She deserves the award more than I do.”
He said the nomination had kept Zaidee’s legacy alive and reinforced that the message still needed pushing into the community.
On November 8 this year, Zaidee would have turned 29.
On December 2 it will be 22 years since her death, or as her family says, the day she “grew her angel wings”.
Two other Goulburn Valley locals were also recognised as finalists.
Shannon Drake of Mooroopna, a Wamba Wamba and Jaara woman with 25 years’ experience improving Aboriginal health outcomes through Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative, is in the same category as Mr Turner.
Shepparton’s Ganbina, Australia longest-running Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school-to-work transition organisation, is a finalist in the Beyond Bank Community Group Award.
Winners will be announced at a gala at the Pullman Hotel in Melbourne on Saturday, October 17.
