LAST night’s 2015 ACT Volunteer of the Year Awards went to Sophie Hope and TADACT in front of 350 people at the AIS arena.

“We received a record 83 nominations this year of outstanding quality making the judges lives very hard,” said Maureen Cane, CEO of Volunteering and Contact ACT.

“We had nominations spanning the entire range of volunteering activity from assisting young people to visit their parents in prison, lending out lawn mowers and monitoring rabbits! We are thrilled to be publicly honouring our local volunteers in celebration of National Volunteer Week (11 –17 May).

2015 ACT Volunteer of the Year: Sophie Hope

Sophie is the winner of the Young Person category. At 22 years of age Sophie’s volunteer service is remarkable. The multifaceted nature of her work spans from telephone crisis support with Lifeline Canberra, youth reference work with Headspace, all the way through to foster care of animals for the RSPCA and membership of the ACT Refugee Action Committee. As quoted in her nomination: ‘She never gives herself enough time to just relax-she is always out helping someone, whether it is through her volunteer work, or being someone to talk to for her friends and family when they are in tough situations. She is endlessly positive and brings her smiles and enthusiasm to her volunteer work.’

2015 ACT Volunteer Team of the Year: TADACT Skilled Project Volunteer Team

TADACT (Technical Aid for the Disabled ACT) Skilled Volunteers won the Community Care and Health category. The team is made up of over 60 skilled volunteers (engineers, tradespeople and more) who donate their time, knowledge and expertise to enable people with disabilities to live independent lives. As noted by their nominator the work of the TADACT Skilled Volunteers: provides solutions to help directly improve the independence of recipients (people with a disability) and improve their quality of life leading to greater social inclusion.