Announcing your 2023 Westfield Local Hero

We are excited to announce Gareth Williams from The Boxing Shop: Boxing Beyond Barriers as your 2023 Westfield Local Hero for Mt Gravatt!

Westfield is proud to award a community grant of $20K to help Gareth and The Boxing Shop: Boxing Beyond Barriers 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.

For further information or to discover the Westfield Local Heroes at other Westfield centres, visit the Westfield Local Heroes website.

Your 2023 Westfield Mt Gravatt Local Hero is:

Gareth Williams

The Boxing Shop: Boxing Beyond Barriers

Dedicated. Inspirational. Selfless.

Compassionate Gareth Williams positively influences thousands of youth with his innovative school-based boxing program, The Boxing Shop.

Gareth is the founder and leader of The Boxing Shop, a successful gym from where he runs an outreach program at 30 schools and community groups for disengaged youth.

Known as Boxing Beyond Barriers, Gareth’s program helps his students turn their lives around and learn respect, discipline and self-belief.

Gareth uses boxing training as a backdrop to give life lessons that encourage his young students to find their passion and chase happiness.

By engaging the children in his fun, educational and fitness-oriented activities, Gareth is the perfect role model to motivate them to want more for themselves and others.

Gareth leads by example with his exemplary work ethic and provides a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone feels safe to share their story.

There are many success stories, and Gareth loves the example of a student who was known for getting into fights at school. After attending Boxing Beyond Barriers, he turned this around and became known for breaking up fights.

Gareth is proud to be nominated as a Westfield Local Hero. “I hope to continue my work with disengaged youth for many years ahead,” he says.

The Boxing Shop: Boxing Beyond Barriers will be able to reach an additional five schools and will start a scholarship program to reward youth who are making good progress.

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

Jo Westh from 4 Voices Global Limited

Jo Westh is the founder of the 4 Voices Global, an organisation she create to find her own voice and help other women find theirs. The volunteer-run charity offers digital and social connection in three vans that park at 16 Queensland locations.

Yasmin Khan from The Bangle Foundation

Yasmin Khan is the founder of The Bangle Foundation, where she has spent 10 years as a beacon of hope for hundreds of local South Asian Australian women affected by domestic violence. Yasmin’s volunteers are on call 24 hours a day and have the cultural knowledge and language to understand the unique needs of migrants.

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