Location: Alderley
A passion for sport and art has led Avril Butters to clock up more than 50 years of volunteering to deaf sports, arts and the deaf community.
She began her volunteer work as a teenager when she became involved in the Deaf General Committee, now known as Deaf Sports Recreation Queensland, and later the Queensland Deaf Society.
She has been involved in a variety of deaf sports as a player and an administrator, including netball, tennis, table tennis and ten-pin bowling, representing Queensland in a number of Australian Deaf Games. In more recent times, Avril has taken up four-wheel driving, and is a committee member of the South-East Queensland Deaf Four-Wheel Driving Club.
A talented artist, Avril's artworks have been vehicles for helping hearing people to understand what life is like as a deaf person. A foundation member of the Deaf Craft and Art Club, Avril has volunteers her time as an art tutor to many deaf adults over the years.
It is possibly through her work with the monthly newsletter Deaf News that Avril has had the greatest influence in the deaf sport and art communities. Through her leadership, Avril has attracted volunteers to help with the production of the newsletter. She manages the work of at least 20 volunteers who put the newsletter together each month.
Avril shows no signs of slowing down - there is always the next edition of Deaf News to get out and another sporting group that needs her fundraising skills to help them get to the next competition.
