Survivor guides honoured
PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the NSW volunteer community have paid tribute to the Holocaust survivor guides at the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM), who were recently honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards.
PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the NSW volunteer community have paid tribute to the Holocaust survivor guides at the Sydney Jewish Museum (SJM), who were recently honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards.
The group received a standing ovation as they took to the stage to accept the award that had been created specifically to honour their unique contribution to the community of New South Wales, recognising the 23 years they have spent sharing their experiences with the museum’s visitors.
Olga Horak, who accepted the award on behalf of her fellow volunteers, said the guides have been the foundation of the museum since its inception. “By sharing our individual stories and experiences of the Holocaust we have always hoped to share our message of tolerance and understanding while ensuring that the younger generation do not forget what happened and how fragile democracy and peace can really be,” she said.
Presented annually by the Centre for Volunteering, the awards recognise the outstanding efforts of the more than two million volunteers in NSW, and promote the importance of volunteering to the community.
The survivor guides were singled out from a group of 7000 nominees, receiving a commendation from Turnbull, who recorded a special message for the volunteers in attendance.
“Through their work, our volunteers make communities stronger, and together, they continue the honoured and long-held tradition of giving back,” the Prime Minister said.
“The Sydney Jewish Museum is a wonderful example of the volunteer being at the heart of each visitor’s experience, and I congratulate the guides of being worthy recipients of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Museum volunteer manager, Rony Bognar, who nominated the guides for the award, said the event had been extremely emotional. “It is almost impossible to imagine what it must be like to relive the most painful and traumatic events of your life week in and week out, but the survivor guides find the strength not only to share their experiences, but to inspire their audiences to change and improve their worlds today,” she said.
“That the whole volunteer community of Sydney would stand and give the survivor guides this incredible reception is something I think neither they nor I will ever forget.”
AJN STAFF
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