Presenting your 2022 Westfield Local Hero

We are excited to announce your 2022 successful Westfield Local Hero for Carindale.

The successful Westfield Local Heroes organisation, will receive a grant of $20,000 to help them continue to grow their impact in the local community. Westfield will award 126 grants across Australia and New Zealand – totalling $1.26 million.

In early 2023, we will open nominations for the 2023 Westfield Local Heroes program, so start thinking about those people in your communities who make a difference.

Your 2022 Westfield Carindale Local Hero is:

Shaune Watts

Mater Little Miracles
Selfless. Inspirational. Determined
Story body-Carindale Shaune Watts

Inspirational Shaune Watts is a one-person fundraising juggernaut with an unwavering focus on helping premature babies and their families.

Year after year, Shaune organises fundraising golf days and high teas to support Mater Little Miracles, which raises funds for Mater Mothers’ Hospitals.

The money goes towards the best equipment for the 2000 seriously ill and premature babies who receive around-the-clock care in the Mater’s Neonatal Critical Care Unit (NCCU) every year.

Last year alone, Shaune raised $120,000 for vital NCCU equipment, and he’s raised close to $700,000 in total. It’s his way of giving back for the care given to his wife, Kimberley, and their son Noah, who was born 10 weeks premature in 2011 and stayed in the NCCU for 10 weeks.

Little Miracles is the second charity for which Shaune goes above and beyond. He has raised close to $100,000 for other not for profit organisations with causes that have affected his family.

The key to Shaune’s success is that his passion for good causes resonates with his supporters, including 30 businesses from Queensland and further a field.

“My events have helped more than 20,000 babies and families over the 11 years I have been supporting the Mater Little Miracles. My desire to give back and make a difference to the lives of babies and their families motivates me to continue this work,” Shaune says.

Marter Little Miracles will put the grant towards the $83,000 cost of a Retinal Imaging System used to identify and treat abnormalities in the retinas of newborns.

We also congratulate our finalists who will receive a $5,000 grant for the organisation they represent, and we thank them for their incredible contribution to the local community.

Local Heroes P3 2022 Web Asset 2400x1028 - Carindale

Chris Rafter from Care Kits for Kids QLD Inc.
Christine (Chris) Rafter volunteers many hours helping to ensure children going into care or in crisis have essentials and special items that remind them they matter. As a past President and co-founder of Care Kits for Kids Qld, Chris is a valued member of the charity’s large group of talented volunteers finding purpose beyond fun and friendship by ensuring there are always enough Care Kits to meet demand.

Samira Khatoon from The Sunlight Centre
Compassionate Samira Khatoon goes above and beyond to help young people and adults through their darkest hours. Samira is a counsellor at The Sunlight Centre, where she empathetically strives to give healthy tools to people who self-harm, have thoughts about suicide, or have other mental health concerns.

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