BANK manager Janine Yokum lives her life looking for positive things. When someone cuts in front of her in traffic, she stays positive about it. And she is positive when she looks back at the hardships she endured as a child.

“You can be a victim all your life if you want to be – and a lot of people do play on that – but it’s a waste of energy,” Janine says.

Janine’s father walked out on his wife and their four children when the youngest was 10-months-old.

“My dad left when I was four, so my mum didn’t have a good experience around what it’s like to be a wife,” Janine says.

“She raised us on her own and did the best she could with what she had.”

At age 15, Janine left her home in NZ and moved to Australia.

“New Zealand, at the time, didn’t have a lot of employment opportunities. My mum was supposed to come with me and she chickened out,” she says.

However, Janine’s life has been shaped by the hardships her mother has endured.

Janine’s grandmother didn’t like girls so her mother, one of three children, ended up in an orphanage run by the Salvation Army.

It’s because of the Salvos that Janine’s mother was able to cope and Janine has been giving back to them for so long as she can remember.

“Treat people as you’d like to be treated, is something that was drummed into me from a very young age,” she says.

For the past two years she has been the chairperson of the Belconnen Zone for the Salvos Red Shield Appeal Doorknock and this year she is the Residential Appeal chairperson for the Salvos Red Shield Appeal Doorknock right across Canberra.

“The Salvos will help anybody,” she says. “They’re not judgemental about who they support or help. It doesn’t matter what religion you are and they don’t throw their religion down your throat.

“They believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, but when you go in to talk to them, it’s not mentioned.

“If you sat down with them because you had an issue, it’s not about ‘God’s going to save you’ it’s just about ‘how can we help you?’

“They just help because that’s what they should do and that, to me, is a really good thing.

“The doorknock is something that actually helps the community.

“So if you donate in the Belconnen area, that money will stay in the Belconnen area.”

Janine is the Westpac bank manager of the Belconnen branch. Last year, she was also an ACT winner of the Telstra Business Women’s Awards.

A hairdresser by trade, Janine is a mother of two and stepmother to two.

She first started working for the Westpac bank as a teller in Sydney and three years later got her first branch manager role.

As a banker she would see people who wanted access to funds that they couldn’t afford to pay back.

“If I could see that they were genuine and really needed help I’d send them to the Salvos,” she says.

“I think you’ve got to give back to the community. I try to get out to schools to show children that’s what you should do.

“It gives me pleasure to help other people.

“I feel like I’ve got good karma but I don’t think I’m perfect. It makes me feel like a better person to know that I’ve helped someone else. I think it’s good for your soul.”

Local Salvation Army Captain Dale Murray says Janine is a real success story for the Salvos in Canberra.

“She is an example of how a lady in a high position of employment can not only herself make a valuable contribution to the Salvos Red Shield Appeal, but how she encourages her staff, as well as customers, to get involved as well,” he says.

“It shows that we all have a part to play, whatever position we may hold.”

The Red Shield Appeal Doorknock is on the weekend of May 19-20. Go to salvos.org.au or call 137258 to donate.