Presenting your 2022 Westfield Local Hero

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

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 Plenty Valley Local Hero is:

Tracey Russell

United Minds Community Services
Supportive. Caring. Charitable

Caring Tracey Russell goes above and beyond to help ensure local people feel cared for, have access to psychological support and can put food on their table.

Tracey is the Community Service Program Coordinator and Admin Manager at United Minds Community Services, which offers a food bank, financial and material aid, and community funded psychology therapy.

It’s far more than a day job for Tracey, who devotes much of her own time to raising funds and supporting the community, so everyone feels supported and nobody goes hungry.

Tracey started as an admin officer at United Minds years ago. It was a life-changing move for both her and the community.

She lives and breathes the Community Support Program and raised funds to launch the food bank, which is now a vital local resource. Through her passion, the service is now well known and respected and receives regular referrals from the City of Whittlesea, Uniting Care and other agencies.

“My motivation is seeing the look of relief on the faces of people we help and knowing I'm giving back. “ Tracey says.

United Minds Community Services will use its funds to take her foodbank to the next level and cover the cost of psychologist sessions for the community.

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.

Katrina Naish from A Fitting Connection
Proactive Katrina Naish has developed a program to teach school students to turn old textiles into products they can sell to raise funds. Katrina has more than 20 years of experience in the fashion and textiles industry and launched her for-purpose business, A Fitting Connection, to help tackle Australia’s growing mountain of textile waste.

Lee Smith from Northern Pride Netball Association
Energetic Lee Smith volunteers an enormous amount of time to give hundreds of children a lifetime of happy memories through netball. Lee took on the role of competition coordinator and treasurer for the Northern Pride Netball Association to make the game accessible to every child in her community, regardless of their ability.

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