In Focus: The Heart of the Community Award

Heart of the Community (Individual) Winner — Arely Carrion, Executive Manager Community, Mounties 

The 2024 individual winner of the Heart of the Community Award was Arely Carrion, Mounties Group’s Executive Manager Community, for her work in helping combat and recognise domestic and family violence (DFV).  

Arely was in an abusive relationship herself for 16 years, throughout which she worked in the club industry. 

“I understood the opportunity for us as an industry to improve our responses and came back to Mounties and implemented our Domestic and Family Violence Action Plan,” Arely said. 

“We really want to support those in our workplace who are suffering and who are suffering in silence.”

The Mounties Group Domestic Family and Sexualised Violence (DFSV) Action Plan is part of a larger scheme of initiatives that aim to educate, train, support and most of all provide access to resources and information to save people’s lives and provide hope.  

Beyond new policies, increased training and internal resources, the organisation has also aligned with local domestic violence organisations and developed a support pathway for those who need it.  

Arely also recently led an industry-wide discussion at the ‘Catalyst for Change’ event in Sydney which saw dozens of industry leaders come together to work on a plan to combat domestic violence as an industry. 

Heart of the Community (Club) Winner — Crescent Head Country Club  

Crescent Head Country Club in the Far North Coast region of the state was one of the two club winners in the Heart of the Community category for 2024.  

The Club is nestled in the beachside town of Crescent Head, which has a population of around 1600, and plays a huge part in the small town’s community by providing services that would otherwise be missing. These services include sporting facilities, an emergency evacuation centre, financial assistance to local organisations, entertainment, two restaurants, fundraising coordination, support of sporting events, a mobile library, tourist information and assisting elderly locals with banking and other tasks. 

Following a tragic accident in 2021 involving local teenager Hamish Cook, which saw him wheelchair-bound for life, Crescent Head Country Club rallied the community to raise over $150,000 to support the Cook family. The Club then furthered their support by pursuing the build of Australia’s first fully accessible mini golf course, which has an irrigation and wastewater re-use system sitting underneath it.

“We recently installed a new mini golf facility which is being used by the community. It is the best disability access mini golf in Australia and below it sits 520,000 litres of water which can be pumped onto the community's golf course,” Club Secretary Manager Colan Ryan said. 

“We have been blown away by this win, its huge for Crescent Head and huge for our Club.” 

Heart of the Community (Club) Winner — Bathurst RSL 

The second club winner was Bathurst RSL in the state’s Central West for their work with Veritas House, a non-profit organisation in Bathurst that aims to end the cycle of homelessness, providing support and services to young people and families who are facing housing and social challenges. The organisation supports around 137 young people who are either experiencing or are at risk of homelessness each year.  

Through a discussion between the CEO of Veritas Jodie Pearce and President of Bathurst RSL Ian Miller, the idea was born to renovate a property that Bathurst RSL had in its portfolio. Over the course of more than a year, the Club spent $134,000 renovating the property; which included reparative work to the foundations; installing a completely new roof, guttering and drainage; painting; new carpet; the installation of new heating, lighting and fencing; electrical upgrades and new furnishings. 

“We are really proud of the fact that we had a property to renovate that actually managed to get a family out of their car and into a home,” Bathurst RSL CEO Peter Sargent said. 

The Club also works with disadvantaged people through Veritas House via a range of programs and services to establish their own financial independence and get on their feet.   

“We talk about being the heart of the community and this award underpins the fact that we actually deliver on our promise,” Peter said. 

Heart of the Community (Individual) Highly Commended — Brian Gray 

The individual who received a highly commended award in the Heart of the Community category was Brian Gray of Bankstown Sports Club.  

Brian — who his friends and family affectionately call ‘Dubba’ — began building a relationship with staff at the Westmead Hospital oncology ward roughly 30 years ago, purely because it was a cause he felt was worthy of his support.  

Dubba began fundraising and donating his own money to support sick children being treated in the ward.

As his passion for giving back to the community grew, he encouraged his fellow bowlers and his friends to join him — creating the yearly Christmas Toy Drive.  

It is estimated that over the past 30 years, Dubba and the men’s bowlers have contributed thousands of dollars in cash donations and toys to benefit sick kids.  

Heart of the Community (Club) Highly Commended — Greta Workers Club 

Greta Workers Club took out the highly commended gong for the Heart of the Community category for their support of a local man who tragically lost his wife, daughter and son-in-law in the Hunter Valley wedding bus crash in June 2023. 

The Club played a pivotal role in supporting Graham McBride (known by locals as ‘Bangers’), a victim of the tragic disaster who not only lost his family but sustained severe injuries himself, leaving him unable to work due to a broken back.  

The Club organised ‘Doing it for Bangers Day’ on 28 October 2023 which drew a crowd of over 600 and featured a raffle with prizes exceeding $50,000.  

Through the collective efforts of The Bloomfield Group, a coal mining corporation, and the community, the event successfully raised $200,000 to aid Graham in his recovery and to support his future needs.