Vera Roberts

Location: Ayr

In her 37 years of volunteering it would be difficult to find an area of the community that Vera Roberts has not helped.

Much of 76-year-old Vera's voluntary contribution has been through the Ayr Lions Club and the Lower Burdekin Lions Club. Vera started as a 'Lions lady' in 1971 when her husband Ron joined the Ayr Lions Club. When the Lioness Club of Ayr was chartered 13 years later, Vera became charter secretary. Over the next eight years she served in many positions including president and was responsible for leading fundraising efforts for local projects and charities.

When the Lower Burdekin Lions club was chartered in 1992, Vera again became a charter member and took on the roles of secretary and treasurer for a number of years.

In addition to her community work through the Lions clubs, Vera has volunteered for Meals on Wheels for 30 years, and the local Seniors Support Group. She collected more than 700 pairs of used glasses and 250 hearing aids for recycling and sending on to Third World countries, and thousands of stamps for auctioning with the money raised going to the Lions Children's Mobility Foundation.

Vera was also responsible for revitalising the Driver Reviver centre at Sandy Corner, north of Brandon, and she is now working to extend the centre's operating hours.

In her spare time, she even found time to crochet jackets, booties and bonnets for premature babies and donate these to three hospitals.

Friends of Vera Roberts describe her as 'a quiet achiever' and her long list of achievements for her community certainly attest to this.