John Anderson, Susan Anderson, Therese Baker, Sarah Johnston, Sue Neilson, Joe Petersen and Simon Righton

BlazeAid Bunyip is one of the most impressive examples of how volunteers rally in a crisis. In only 10 days, a 500-strong team of skilled and dedicated volunteers came together to help farmers in Bunyip after bushfires ravaged the area in March this year. Since then, over 160 properties have registered to receive fencing help and 130km of new fences have been completed on 35 properties. A huge logistical undertaking, Blazeaid Bunyip also incorporated the services of 14 catering groups, allocated more than 350 food donations, conducted farmer’s night and even held an evening of opera.

Navpreet Dhanoa, Ramandeep Kang, Harjinder Kaur, Harjit (Ravneet) Kaur, Brijai Parikh, Randeep Saini, Avtar Singh, Manjinder Singh and Ramneet Kaur Walia

Going beyond its mandate of a place of worship, the Officer Sikh temple has opened its doors to strengthen the bond between the various communities in Melbourne’s outer east. Recent events and contributions included a thanksgiving service for 2019 Bunyip bushfire volunteers, donating hay to Need for Feed, providing food donations to 4Cs and the Baptist Church and holding an Eid service with the local Muslim community. Such a diverse range of engagement and activities showed how the simple act of sharing brings people together.