The Shooting Star Awards Night Winners 2019

What is The Shooting Star Awards Night?

Shooting Star is one of our favourite times of year. It’s an awards night, but really, it’s our opportunity to share the love and recognise the people who make Reach Reach.

From our supporters, to our partners, to our Crew, we get to celebrate the amazing contribution these fine folks have made to the development of the next generation.

And the winners are….

The Shooting Star Award

The main prize of the night: The Shooting Star Award recognises the efforts that people & companies outside of our organisation make to help support our work with young people. 

This isn’t about how much money they give or things that they donate, it’s about passion and commitment to our work, our mission and the young people whose lives we change.

The Shooting Star nominees are named by each department in the organisation and every single staff and crew member casts a vote. We had a lot of nominees, all worthy of the top prize, but there can be only one winner.

The nominees were:

  • David Hodge & Jacquelin Goh – Westpac Private Bank
  • Vinnie Petrelli – Happy Video Productions
  • K&L Gates
  • David & Kelli Lundberg
  • Regan Bunny, Dianne Kanagalingam & Tiffany Roxas – Vicinity Centres
  • Jeremy Glover – Swinburne
  • PwC

This year was the closest race we have ever seen with only one vote separating our winner:

David & Kelli Lundberg!

David and Kelli came on board in a huge way this year. After one of their sons had a Reach experience at school, David and Kelli saw the impact and began passionately supporting Reach. David came on as a Mentor in our Diverge program, they shone bright at our 25th Year Event and have advocated for us throughout their networks to help open doors and give us access to partnership opportunities, support and like-minded people all year. David and Kelli have really followed our “Be Your Word” value through and through and we are so grateful for their support so far and  super excited to see where our journey together takes us!

The Supporter Award

This was introduced this year to recognise the people who help make our programs the incredibly special and safe places they are. Our Supporters are essentially an extension of our Crew and Wellbeing arms, not just helping to put band-aids on scabby knees but by being there emotionally for our participants and Crew alike. They’re as much a part of the Reach Family as any Alumni or Sessional and are as integral to our engagement as the Reach Facilitators themselves.

The nominees were:

  • Ian Johnson
  • Sharon Landy
  • Carol Schoknecht
  • Ralph Fallows

Our Winner:

Ralph Fallows!

Ralph’s has been consistently supporting our programs and events on-the-ground for over 7 years! And in 2019 especially, he went above and beyond. No one knows our programs, or our crew, as well as Ralph and this comes through in his passionate advocacy for our work in every sphere. His work at the 25th Year Event was incredible. He hustled really hard on the night, bringing in donations and making all the guests feel comfortable. Ralph also made a valuable contribution to 2018 annual report by providing a written insight into why he loves the organisation so much. He’s a truly inspirational person and we’re very lucky to have him as part of the Reach family.

Crew Accreditation

Our Crew Training Program is robust, intensive and ensures our Crew have the full toolkit of skills to facilitate Reach workshops to young people across Australia. To become accredited, each Crew member must pass a number of assessments to progress to the next stage.

It goes like this:

  • New Crew
  • Crew
  • Facilitator-In-Training
  • Facilitator
  • Senior Facilitator

Each stage has added responsibility and expectations. Moving up is a big deal and can sometimes take years. When you do, you’ve demonstrated you’ve put in the work and earned your place.

We are so incredibly proud to have so many of our crew members progress further into their development journey at Reach this year.

Learn more about them below! 

FACILITATORS-IN-TRAINING

DALEY

Daley  has gained so much confidence in training and found his voice recently, as well as stepping up and mentoring younger crew. Daley is incredibly committed and loyal to Reach, and reflects Reach’s values inside and out!

HENRY

Henry is a dream crew member. Any task, any job, anything at all you need done, Henry is your guy. Henry is committed to Reach and constantly strives to better himself – if he doesn’t know how to do something, he finds a way to figure it out.

SOPHIE

Sophie has the ability to connect with people from all walks of life and any energy or archetype. If she doesn’t understand something she is not afraid to ask and to us this shows humility and a want to be the best version of herself. 

JAKE

Jake is intelligent and has the ability to really tap into his analytical brain. Jake is always thinking outside of the box and trying to find new ways of doing things. Any bit of feedback Jake gets he will next come in to Reach having worked on it. 

FACILITATORS

ALEX

Alex thrives under pressure and can confidently step into any space and work with diverse young people from a range of different backgrounds. She displays a high level of respect, curiosity, patience and authenticity, which is received extremely well both in the corporate world and when working with young people. Alex enables others to feel seen and heard and ensures people from all different parts of the organisation have a voice.

ALISHIA

Alishia wears her heart on her sleeve and cares deeply for those around her. Alishia will always give people her time and has often spent hours with younger crew, mentoring them and allowing them to grow and develop as people and as crew members. She goes above and beyond to ensure her job gets done and is always the first person to help someone else get theirs done too. Alishia has put in so much hard work and effort to better herself as an individual and as a facilitator. 

EMMETT

Emmett is selfless and humble, always being the first to put his hand up to help others out in any way that he can. Emmett is forever trying to learn about different things whether it be people, theories or ideas. He is curious, inquisitive, insightful and persistent. Anything he has learned he is willing to teach. A patient teacher with understanding and care. Emmett constantly striving to be better and do better and encourages others to do the same. 

ASH

Ash was a part of the first generation of Hunter crew and back then people would have been quick to describe her as the “drama kid”. However, over the years she has grown into so much more than that. In her 4 years of being at Reach she has impacted many people; crew, staff, students and participants. Ash has been a mentor to many people within the organisation and has guided them with whatever it is they have needed to be the best version of themselves.

SENIOR FACILITATORS

TELAINE

Telaine is true to who she is and is always unapologetically herself. She is the leader of our Indigenous and Diversity programs and is incredibly passionate about getting Reach to rural areas to work with all young people. If you have ever stepped foot into our NSW or VIC office, you will know Telaine. She is fiercely loyal and will do anything to back in our crew members from state to state. Telaine has a nurturing nature and will make sure all young people on our programs are are heard, seen and validated. She has incredible intuition and has the ability to make our crew members feel like superstars. Not afraid to back down from a challenge and is a role model for everyone to be completely raw and authentic no matter what. 

LOU

Lou has grown up at Reach, coming in over 10 years ago as a misunderstood teenager, she has challenged herself and boy has it paid off. Lou is one powerhouse of a woman who has only grown from strength to strength during her time at Reach. She is not afraid to put herself in the spotlight or give things a red hot go, Lou is a force to be reckoned with! Lou is a quiet leader who often sees those that go unnoticed, particularly in the crew group and has a huge passion for supporting and developing the younger cohort of crew on their own journey at Reach. Lou has really learnt to harness her vulnerability as a strength and use it to move a room, while holding so much power, a unique and gifted skill. Lou is not only kicking goals inside of Reach but continues to develop, grow and push herself constantly in her own life by truly living the values of Reach.

HARRY

Harry is the heart and soul of our New South Wales team and strives to lead all the younger crew to be the best versions of themselves. Harry will be everyone’s biggest advocate and is passionate about everyone’s growth in the organisation. Harry is a special kind of magic. He leaps into the unknown with openness and trusts in his ability to learn and grow from each challenge or obstacle he comes across. His ability to captivate and inspire comes from this same place of magic, one that is egoless and truly sees the potential in every person. He has worked on almost every program Reach offers, recently leading our Wake by Reach workshops and after the workshop is over, without fail, the corporates will remember his name and chase him down on LinkedIn. 

 

Congrats again to everyone who got nominated, who won, and who got accredited!

WE ❤️YOU!

Know a standout Reach supporter who ought to be getting some recognition? Let us know!