AMES Australia, in partnership with Parks Victoria and the Sikh community, has won a prestigious volunteering award.
AMES and its partners were named as winners of the ‘Volunteering Partnerships Award’ at Victoria’s 2021 Volunteering Awards at a ceremony at Government House recently.
The award citation reads: “An association that formed at the height of the COVID-19 restrictions, the Parks Victoria, AMES and Sikh partnership has demonstrated innovative thinking to provide 4000 kilograms of vegetables to community kitchens across the Wyndham municipality”.
“The program has now become an annual feature at the formal gardens at Werribee Park and has also been adopted the South Sudanese Women’s Group alongside Karen and Sikh community members to produce fresh vegetables for food relief,” it reads.
The food program at Werribee Parks stems from the ‘Working Beyond the Boundaries’ program at Werribee Parks which has been running since 2011 tackling issues of unemployment and mental illness among refugee and migrant communities in the area.
It has successfully tackled issues of mental illness and depression connected with feelings of dislocation, isolation and low self-esteem among refugee communities.
AMES CEO Cath said the volunteering award showed the value of partnerships.
“Our partnership with Parks Victoria has showed agility in being able to adapt to the exigencies of the COVID-19 crisis,” Cath said.
“This is a great outcome and shows what partnerships can achieve and what can be done with a bit of imagination and initiative,” she said.