Salvos honoured in Australia Day awards
BY SIMONE WORTHING
Several Salvos have been honoured with Australia Day awards for their service to the community. The recipients were recognised during Australia Day award ceremonies at the end of January.
Barb Power – OAM
Barb Power, The Salvation Army’s General Manager Safeguarding, has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of her service to child welfare organisations.
“I feel completely humbled and privileged,” said Barb. “I have no idea who nominated me or how this came about. I’m just so completely blown away by this significant honour!”
Barb has spent her “almost 30-year career” working in child welfare organisations. “My focus has always been child protection and child safeguarding,” she said. “I have held various roles, and probably one of the most important roles to me was my work as a child sexual assault counsellor, helping children heal, advocating for them and seeing things change for the better for them.
“Working in child protection is all about working alongside people to help create safety and trust and community connection for families and children in particular. In a previous child advocate role, my advocacy work with a child witness was the ‘test case’ which brought about standardised video conferencing of evidence given by children in court proceedings. Prior to this work, children had no choice but to give evidence in front of alleged sexual offenders in the courtroom.”
Barb enjoys her role with The Salvation Army as head of the safeguarding team, a position she has held for almost two years. “I have a great team of dedicated people,” she said. “I think it is also great to be receiving this award whilst working for Australia’s oldest and respected charity.
“I feel deeply humbled and privileged to be honoured with the Medal of Australia Award (OAM). Not only does it recognise my contribution but also the sector, those workers who came before me and those workers still to come. But most importantly, the children. I have always had a strong belief in the philosophy of childhood and childhood as a human right and to me, this award reinforces that belief.”
Barb is based at Territorial Headquarters in Melbourne.
Jeffrey Maclean – AM
Jeffrey (pictured), who is based in Brisbane, has been an active member of the Red Shield Appeal Committee since 2007.
Jeffrey was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for “significant service to the community through a range of organisations, including the Queensland Brain Institute.”
Nicholas Carbines – PSM
Nick, as he is known, serves as Services Australia Community Partnership Specialist at The Salvation Army’s Project 614 in Melbourne, a role he took on in August 2022. Prior to that, Nick worked in the public service for 22 years, with 20 years in community services supporting some of Australia’s most vulnerable community members.
Nick was awarded the Public Service Medal (PSM) “For outstanding public service in the provision of payments and supporting those most vulnerable and experiencing homelessness across inner city Melbourne.”
Nick has supported over 530 Services Australia customers through his role as a community partnership specialist officer, within the Community Partnership Pilot program, where he has been co-located with Project 614.
The award citation highlighted the “strong collaborative relationships with The Salvation Army’s staff and volunteers” that Nick has built and the “effective relationships with customers who are isolated from mainstream support and services,” that he has created.
These vulnerable community members are those who are otherwise unable to access service centres, engage over the phone or navigate digital channels and would therefore not be receiving critical social welfare payments and assistance.
Nick has quickly established and built new relationships within The Salvation Army, actively contributing to the development of the pilot and supporting his colleagues navigate their role and build relationships with other partner non-government organisations.
Nick’s is highly respected by his peers and colleagues.
“Nick has been instrumental in building pathways between Services Australia, Project 614 and clients to ensure equitable access to government services for vulnerable Australians,” said Major Brendan Nottle, Team Leader, Melbourne Project 614.
Nick said he felt humbled by the award. “I work with a large and hard-working team, so this award is really a team one,” he said. “I am full of praise for everyone at Project 614 and Services Australia and all that is done to engage with vulnerable members of the community and build successful outcomes for them.”
Significant Contribution
Salvation Army volunteers and personnel in the NSW Hunter region were honoured with a ‘Significant Contribution’ award for their service to the community during the Hunter Valley bus tragedy in June 2023.
Ten people were killed and 25 taken to hospital from the crash. The Salvation Army’s SAES Hunter and Central Coast regional coordinator, Hans Schryver, said volunteers gave their time to assist with catering and a listening ear at the site for 10 days following the tragedy.
The award was presented to the SAES at a Cessnock City Council Australia Day Celebrations and Awards ceremony.
Zoe Hannam – Citizen of the Year award
The Salvation Army’s Family Store manager at Inverell in northern NSW has been recognised for her service to the community with an Australia Day Local Citizen of the Year award.
Four years ago, Zoe Hannam, who manages the Inverell Family Store four days a week, decided to act on the desires of her heart and set up a community soup kitchen called Food for the Soul. Inverell Corps jumped on board and offered its kitchen and hall for the initiative.
Food for the Soul runs every Wednesday night and also provides a meal for people in need on Christmas Day.
The awards ceremony, hosted by the Inverell Shire Council, was held in Victoria Park on Australia Day. Zoe said receiving the award was a surprise: “I’m humbled, but it was a great opportunity to promote the soup kitchen.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Every effort has been made by the Salvos Online team to list Salvationists who have received awards. If you know of any other Salvationists recognised in Australia Day awards, please let us know by commenting below or emailing salvosonline@salvationarmy.org.au