Congratulations to Mambourin board director Les Chitts, who was awarded the COTA Senior Achiever Award in a ceremony at Government House in October for the Victorian Senior of the Year Awards 2022.
Les was one of ten people across Victoria to be presented with a COTA (Council On The Ageing) award. This award is given in honour of outstanding contributions made by seniors.
Melton City Council proudly nominated Les for the awards.
‘We couldn’t be more pleased that his decades of service to our community have been recognised with this prestigious award,’ said Darren Cunningham, Positive Ageing Officer with Melton City Council, on sharing the news.
Mambourin’s Melton families and carers may already be familiar with Les through the many groups and initiatives he’s involved with in the local area. Since moving to Melton 42 years ago, Les has worked tirelessly as a volunteer and community leader. As the parent to a man living with disability, creating and increasing disability supports for local families has been a driving force in Les’s community work.
Les established the Dads to Dads support group for fathers of children with disability, which is now a statewide initiative. He was a member of the City of Melton Disability Advisory Committee, is an active volunteer with the Melton Lions Club, the GAP on Graham Youth Centre, the Djerriwarrh Community and Education Service’s L2P driving program, and the Harkness Cemetery Advisory Group. Recently, Les established the Melton Men’s Group. This is all in addition to his years serving on Mambourin’s own board of directors.
On the announcement of the award, Rohan Braddy, Mambourin CEO said, ‘We are all so proud of Les and his lifetime of wonderful achievements. We are very pleased that Les is a member of the Mambourin community, and we are so grateful for his fine work as a Mambourin director.’
You can find out more about the other Victorians whose contributions and generosity were recognised as awardees by visiting 2022 Victorian Senior of the Year Awards.