For Pakenham’s Geoff Young, keeping busy helping the community is just a fact of life with no thought of any accolades or recognition.
That all changed last week when his name was called as this year’s recipient of Cardinia Shire’s Stan Henwood Award.
Recognised for his many years of volunteering, there is little indication that this achievement will slow him down.
“I can’t sit still, I want to do something,” he said.
Geoff Young has been awarded the shire’s highest recognition in volunteering, which comes with no better excuse to take a morning off, sleep in and let the significance of the achievement sink in.
But no. On Friday morning, the day after Cardinia Shire’s annual volunteer reception, Geoff was up early in the morning and back to work.
It was somewhat hard to concentrate throughout the day as he was inundated with calls from family and friends congratulating him on the award.
Everyone says they never expect to win an award after they do so, but for Geoff, it was truly the case, as his nomination was all done without his knowledge.
He was among the nominees: Ron Harmer, Ray Spencer, Denise Davidson, Sarah Kelly, Kirra Kruzicevic, George Fry, Meg Platte, and Sunny Duggal.
Members from Rotary, Scouts, Living Learning, Pakenham Show and even Pakenham Police Station supported his nomination.
“First off, they did it behind my back. It was secrecy,” Geoff clarified when asked about his initial reaction to the award.
“But it’s just something that you don’t strive for. It’s something that just happens. Because you volunteer your time to do good for the community.”
Retired for several years now, he has been described as a bit of a workaholic by his wife of 40 years, Janette Young.
After his formal employment, he seems to work more hours than he used to; up before the sun rises, travelling from one job to the next through the day, babysitting grandchildren in the afternoon and committee meetings in the evening.
“I can’t sit still, I want to do something.
“Opportunities come up and someone says, ‘Can we do this or do that?’ I feel like I’m not forced to, but I want to.”
Born in Warrnambool, his family would move several times before his father retired in Hastings. He credits the start of life in volunteering with the Coast Guard when he was 16.
There he would meet not only his wife, but also a pivotal mentor by the name of Jack Turner.
“He started me at the age of 16 and taught me all the Coast Guard stuff.
“And then I used his boat to get to boatmaster and then coxswain. Just the way he presented it, looked after things, showed me the correct way of doing things.
“I suppose it stuck with me.”
The years in the Coast Guard would come to an end when he got married, moved to Garfield and started a family.
As his children grew up, he would involve himself in their activities from callisthenics, gymnastics, pony clubs to scouts.
He was the leader of the Garfield Scout Group for many years, helping develop young locals who he still speaks to today.
He is known by many as a staunch Rotarian, joining the Garfield Rotary Club in 1999 where he served as president.
“So it sort of was like having a meeting of the Garfield people each Wednesday, that you’d go in and just talk about farming, talk about this, talk about that. It was really good.”
Increasingly travelling to Pakenham for the kids’ school and friends, the family decided to move to a property in Pakenham Upper in 2006.
They transferred over to Pakenham Rotary Club, where Geoff served as president and district assistant governor.
The toughest moment in rotary, Geoff said, was the Black Saturday Bushfires. He was instrumental in leading the effort by local rotarians, alongside many other volunteer groups, in emergency relief for locals affected by the fire through Bunyip State Park.
As some of the first locals to respond to the disaster, they would set up operations out of the Labertouche Community Centre, which would end up being the base for local authorities.
Geoff has been a longtime volunteer for the Pakenham and District Agricultural and Horticultural Show Society and served as president for 11 years.
He started his term in a tumultuous time, when the old Pakenham Racecourse was sold, the show’s venue for almost 60 years.
“The old ways were well and truly entrenched, we do this, we do that, we do this.
“And having people change in such a significant way, people got very frustrated. What are we going to do? Where are we going to hold it?”
The show would find its new home at PB Ronald Reserve, core elements were retained, but many others were left at the old racecourse.
Still running today at the park, the Pakenham Show has continued to be a dynamic show open to new ideas.
One of the proudest achievements by Geoff was generating a strong participation of young people, in his time there 19 people under the age of 25 who were engaged with the historic show.
He and his wife are known for going beyond their official duties. When young locals would represent Pakenham or the region each year at the Victorian Agricultural Ambassador Program, Geoff and Janette would always make the trip, no matter how far, to be there with them and show them support.
Helping young people is a speciality of Geoff’s that goes back to scouts and continued when he helped launch Pakenham Bluelight in 2012.
Bluelight is a program by Victoria Police and local organisations that supports young people to make positive changes in their life and build connections in the community.
Youth Resource Officer for the Cardinia Proactive Policing Unit, Senior Constable Sharon Patterson wrote in support of Geoff’s nomination for the Stan Henwood award, commending his work in leading the former Blue Light Disco.
“I cannot recommend Geoff highly enough,” Constable Patterson said.
“His leadership, commitment, and ability to bring people together have made a significant difference in our community.”
The program had up to 300 participants every month at its peak, but it was unfortunately wound up during the covid pandemic.
Geoff laments the continued impact of the pandemic on volunteering. Not only is his sense of civic duty seemingly declining, but he believes people have forgotten the social role of volunteer groups.
“The emotional side of having somewhere to go and have a bit to eat, have a bit to just chat, have a coffee, those sort of things,” he said.
“Well, once covid happened, that all stopped.”
Geoff is one of the few who has no intention of stopping, but he is also one of the few who has been told to at least slow down.
Last year, he had a health scare where his tireless work was suddenly interrupted by the inevitable question of his own mortality.
He now carries an EpiPen wherever he goes and has accepted the advice of his GP and his wife to start rolling back some of the incessant activity.
However, he knows that helping out friends and his volunteer roles are something he could never entirely give up.
“I’m slowly winding back on certain things, but I will still be there to mentor or assist where I can.
“After it, I thought seriously about what’s gonna happen, and now it’s sort of, ‘If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen’.
“But I’ve still got to live my life and I’m still willing to get out there and help out where I can or assist where I can.”
This doesn’t mean there won’t be anything new in the community with Geoff’s involvement. Some new initiatives are still on the cards for the future.
“Watch this space.”
