Last year, Taylors Lakes local Santhana Selvendra was recognised for her decades of volunteering in the community at the Victorian Senior of the Year Awards.
The awards for 2023 are now open and Ms Selvendra is encouraging others to nominate local seniors who are making significant contributions to the community.
Ms Selvandra said the awards are about recognising ordinary, everyday people who have worked hard to support the community.
“Even nominating someone is your acknowledgement of their hard work and dedication,” she said.
“… Often it is people who have developed a project over a period of time – from the outset when things are difficult and there is limited funding or support, to later watching it evolve and flourish years later.
A retired Taylors Lakes chemistry and biology teacher, when Ms Selvendra migrated to Australia with her family in the ‘70s, there was little available for her Hindu community.
At the 2022 awards, Ms Selvendra received a Council on the Ageing (COTA) award for her ongoing support to culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. She was a driving force to the establishment of multiple religious temples in Sunshine, Carrum Downs and The Basin.
“The awards are a valuable recognition of the historical achievement of people, also demonstrating that people can keep contributing to our society at any stage of their life,” she said.
“Often when you are starting something you are so busy developing it that there isn’t the time to promote it fully, it is only years later that you can look back and see what has evolved.”
Nominations close on Friday, July 28.
Details: www.seniorsonline.vic.gov.au/awards
Hannah Hammoud
