Announcing your 2023 Westfield Local Hero

We are excited to announce Bailey Leighton from The Top Blokes Foundation as your 2023 Westfield Local Hero for Burwood!

Westfield is proud to award a community grant of $20K to help Bailey and The Top Blokes Foundation to continue to grow their impact in the local community

The 2023 Westfield Local Heroes program will award 126 grants across Australia and New Zealand – totalling $1.26 million to support local communities.

Nominations for the 2024 Westfield Local Heroes program are open now. If you know someone who's making an impact, nominate them as a Westfield Local Hero - nominate here.

Your 2023 Westfield Burwood Local Hero is:

Bailey Leighton

The Top Blokes Foundation

Inspiring. Determined. Resilient.

Brave Bailey Leighton is on a mission to remove the stigma around mental illness and help young people get the help they need.

Bailey is an Ambassador for the Top Blokes Foundation, which offers mentoring programs for boys and young men. The goal is to help them improve their critical thinking, decision-making and relationships with those around them.

Aged 17, Bailey is a champion runner whose best time for 3km is an impressive 8:56. With the help of a Top Blokes mentor, he is on the road to recovery from depression and anxiety that had a severe impact on his quality of life.

Bailey is grateful to his mentor and is giving back by raising funds for Top Blokes. With an ambitious goal of raising $100,000, Bailey has committed to running 10km every day for 100 days.

The money he raises will be used to train mentors to help young men become their best self in the way Bailey’s mentor helped him.

It means the world to Bailey to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero. “I am doing something to change the stigma around men’s mental health. Immediately after enlisting a mentor, my confidence grew, and my mental and physical wellbeing improved,” he says.

Top Blokes will use its funds to extend its mentoring offering in the Inner West and Western Sydney.

We'd like to thank and acknowledge our finalists who will receive a $5K grant for the organisation they represent...

Kris Spasojevic from Wires Inner West Branch

Kris Spasojevic goes above and beyond as a volunteer at Wires Inner West, where she is available at all hours to help thousands of orphaned or injured animals. Kris takes much of the load and has converted her backyard into a rehabilitation centre. She is a kind mentor for other volunteers and generously shares her knowledge.

Nicole Harcourt from Sanctuary Housing

Nicole Harcourt is the founder and leader of Sanctuary Housing, where she provides crisis accommodation, security and meals to 1,200 women and children a year. Nicole started Sanctuary Housing six years ago. In that time, the charity has grown to offer three shelters in the Burwood, Ashfield and Summer Hill areas.

If you need support, please phone Lifeline: 13 11 14