Senior Citizen of the Year – Lorraine Musgrove
Senior Citizen of the Year – Joan Osmond
Young Citizen of the Year – Julia Dangerfield
Community Event of the Year – Blue Lake Carols
Active Citizenship Award – Mount Gambier Men’s Shed ‘Toy Boys’
Mount Gambier man Adam Smith is passionate about assisting those doing it tough.
He has organised, coordinated and been involved in events such as the Family Truck Show, the Mount Gambier Hay Run, the Full Monty and truck convoys to benefit disadvantaged children, and truck meets to raise funds for and awareness of mental health issues.
The 47-year-old is a husband to Julie and a doting father of three who works tirelessly and with great enthusiasm in his spare time to bring local people together to assist those in need of support.
Mr Smith has raised more than $80,000 to benefit causes close to his heart during the past five years.
“I have been around trucks all my life, I run a truck detailing business, I just have a passion for it and I always want to give back to my community, I love my town,” he said.
He is a co-founder of the Mount Gambier Hay Run, which delivered hay to drought affected farmers in Armidale, Queensland, and to bushfire ravaged farmers in Keilira, Lucindale and Kangaroo Island.
“Everything I get involved with has got to be heart driven, it cannot be anything else but,” Mr Smith said.
“I am very blessed and honoured to have so many good mates that say, ‘no worries, what can we do?’ The generosity is amazing, blokes just donate their trucks, hay, fuel and anything else required.
“I tell my kids there is no such word as cannot, it does not exist in my life.
“If you have got all the right people behind you and you give it a go as a team, you can.”
Mount Gambier Hay Run co-founder and long-time friend Scott Simpson said Mr Smith’s input to the event was pivotal to its ongoing success.
“He organised the trucks from all over Australia and handled the logistics around the convoys, the publicity and social media.
“If it was not for what he does, the Hay Run would not be where it is today,” Mr Simpson said.
“When he gets an idea there’s no stopping him.
“If you do not hear from him for a while you know he’s brewing something.
“Everything he does is successful, and when you’re going through COVID and you look at what he can organise and raise with just his passion alone, he manages to get everyone to jump in and help.
“He is a passionate go getter; he would take the shirt off his own back to help someone else.”
Mr Smith literally did when he was dared by a mate to get his chest waxed to raise funds for mental health awareness.
“I rang Bill Burley and said we want to have a low-key function at the golf club, and I do not want hardly anyone to be there,” he said.
“But then I walked in and the place was full and everyone was talking about it because everyone wants to see me in pain.
“We raised $5500 on the night, it was crazy.
“A mate of mine also dared me to walk down the main street dressed as a woman for Lifeboat SE to promote walking in someone else’s shoes for mental health, and I said ‘yep’.
“So Sharon Tuffnell helped me with prosthesis, Wendy Richardson helped me with a dress and high heels and my sister-in-law did my makeup and I walked down the main street.
“I raised a couple of grand for that too.”
In 2020 Mr Smith took it all off for the Full Monty, raising money for mental health in the Limestone Coast.
“Most of us have two left feet, but within four weeks we were up and dancing,” he said.
“To raise $50,000 on the night was unbelievable.”
In 2016 Mr Smith organised a charity auction and convoy to the Heywood Truck Show that raised $15,000 for Beyond Blue, a mental health organisation focused on supporting people affected by anxiety, depression and suicide.
He was recognised by former Prime Minister and Chair of Beyond Blue Julia Gillard with a personal letter stating how proud and thankful she was for his hard work in raising much needed funds for Beyond Blue.
Mr Smith shies away from accolades for his volunteer work, but is grateful for the opportunity to showcase the causes he believes in.
“I am still in shock, recognition is not why I do it, it’s very humbling and I felt very emotional, it has taken me a lot of time to get my head around it,” Mr Smith said about receiving the Australia Day Citizen of the Year award.
Mr Simpson had the last word about his friend.
“I think that he gives his heart and soul for the betterment of everyone else and it’s about time he got acknowledgement for his work as an individual.
He just gets things done and does it to help other people.
“He deserves this recognition,” Mr Simpson said.
