Cardinia citizen award to Chris Rogers

Cardinia Shire Council last night presented Australia Day awards to its citizen, senior citizen and young citizen of the year as well as acknowledging the community event of the year.

This year’s winners include: citizen of the year – Chris Rogers; senior citizen of the year – Stan Hamilton; young citizen of the year – Michael Pearce; and community event of the year – Kids fun run with Thomas.

Mayor Brett Owen congratulated the winners and nominees at a ceremony last night and acknowledged them for their commitment and contributions to the Cardinia Shire community.

Cr Owen said Chris Rogers had been a volunteer with the Pakenham SES unit for 36 years.

“He goes above and beyond, not only attending local emergencies but also being deployed to assist in other parts of Victoria and across Australia,” Cr Owen said.

Since records began being kept in mid2009, Chris had attended almost 1100 requests for assistance, including 487 road rescue calls, undertaken repairs to more than 150 residents’ houses during storms, cleared more than 300 trees from roads, assisted police at more than 30 crime scenes and attended six plane crashes.

Cr Owen said Stan Hamilton had always contributed to his local community and was recently recognised for 60 years volunteer service to the Upper Beaconsfield CFA Brigade.

Stan also has been a volunteer and contributor to the Yakkerboo Festival since its inception, donating the use of his vehicles and participating in the street parade.

He did his first ‘hay run’ for drought relief in 2005, taking surplus feed from his farm to Murchison, and has continued to donate and deliver hay to farmers ever since.

Young citizen of the year Michael Pearce is a final year undergraduate majoring in physics at Melbourne University.

“Michael has contributed significantly to the broader community through his volunteer engagements, driven primarily by his passion for physics and the outdoors,” Cr Owen said.

Through his work with the Melbourne Space Program, Michael is contributing to the development of student-led programs in the state, paving the way for more young Victorians to develop and contribute to exciting and pioneering projects.

Michael has volunteered across a wide range of organisations, including as a scout leader, VicPhysics Teacher’s Network, Australian Institute of Physics, Melbourne University Physics Students’ Society, and Melbourne Space Program and Science Delivery.

Cr Owen said the Kids Fun Run With Thomas was an amazing event.

He said it was the signature fundraiser for the Emerald and District Rotary Club and had raised more than $671,250 for children’s causes since 2002.