COMMUNITY NEWS - Life-changing impact’ recipients

The Sunshine Coast Australia Day Community Awards have honoured a remarkable group of local heroes, whose dedication, creativity and compassion strengthen our community every day.

Selina Tomasich has been named Citizen of the Year for her sustained, life-changing impact across the Sunshine Coast and around the world.

In 2010, having witnessed extremes of poverty in the Philippines, Selina decided to do something about it. She founded Hair Aid to help those families break free.

Selina mobilised a team of volunteer hairdressers to teach one universal skill – haircutting.

Through five-day training programs delivered in Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, the Philippines and Guatemala, graduates receive professional tools, mentoring and the skills to start microbusinesses that feed families, send children to school and break cycles of poverty.

Today, more than 7,000 people have been trained through Hair Aid.

The Senior Citizen of the Year was awarded to Phil and Di Wilson. For over three decades, Phil and Di have welcomed more than 200 foster children into their hinterland home – many with complex needs – and have adopted 10 children, some with disabilities.

Their unwavering, compassionate care has transformed countless lives and inspired others to step forward.

Other recipients included Young Citizen of the Year,  Jessica Cronin, and the Community Group or Organisation award which went to purpose-built youth sanctuary Lookout07. 

For the Creative Arts, it was a tie for Kenilworth Arts Council and Gretchen Keelty. Kenilworth Arts Council (est. 1988) has expanded arts participation “west of the range” through festivals, workshops, performances and awards – including the Kenilworth Art Award – and sustained decades of volunteer-led cultural programming.

Gretchen Keelty has united the arts community through inclusive programming and landmark projects such as Sculpture on the Edge and the Buddina Ocean Chair mosaic mural (over 20,000 handmade tiles and more than 450 collaborators), foregrounding First Nations inclusion and accessibility.

The Healthy and Active award was also a tie for Bamboo Projects and The Parkinson’s Centre, and the Posthumous Award went to June Upton, affectionately known as the “Sunshine Coast Charity Queen”, for dedicating a lifetime to fundraising and volunteer service.

You can read the inspirational stories of these Sunshine Coast Australia Day Community Award nominees and recipients on Council’s website.