Karen Murray celebrated for contribution to community

As Karen Murray watched coverage of the January 2020 bushfires, she wanted to do something to help.

Acknowledging that she didn’t have the skills to help actually fight the fires, Karen eventually decided to help by collecting and sorting donations.

Karen was able to use Kildare Catholic College, where she works, as a drop-off point for what she had expected to be a modest amount of donations.

Instead, there was a huge reaction and Karen pays tribute to both the people who took the time to donate and the massive number of volunteers – at least 120 in all – who helped to sort, package and distribute the donated items, which went both to those affected by the fires and those fighting them.

Karen, who is also a volunteer at Ronald McDonald House, says it was a huge community effort, made possible by the kindness of hundreds of people from across the Wagga Wagga region, who either answered the call for donations or gave up their time to help.

I had the pleasure of awarding Karen a Community Service Award in December 2020.