General News
29 January, 2025
Citizen of the Year 2025 Nominees
There were four nominees for the 2025 Citizen of the Year award, including recipient Julie Sawley.
Nominee Kylie Louie
Kylie is known locally within the community for a variety of different reasons. She brings the beats and happy energy as a local DJ ensuring everyone gets up to dance and is comfortable on the dance floor. Kylie has continued to use her entertaining energy and talents as a local WARFM 98.9 radio presenter.
She has also been recognised for various achievements in the field of sport including but not limited to being:
- the recipient of the Australia Day Sports Achievement Award in 2022;
- the first woman to reach 10 consecutive years of participating in local league tag; and
- being a league tag coach.
Kylie is also known for the many hours she has volunteered to ensure that various community events and fundraisers are a success. She is a jack of all trades with a positive can do attitude and is willing to provide assistance across a broad spectrum of local initiatives.
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Nominee Denise Gall
Denise Gall is the co-founder of international charity group, Helping hands across the Sands (HHATS). They help underprivileged children in Bali with education and living costs. Denise and her late husband Graham set this up over 20-years-ago. Through this time they have been able to help children from all over the island, and in 2017 built a school in the Suwung rubbish tip for the children who live there.
Her work in Bali is commendable and she has had the ability to also share that with the Gilgandra community. This year, she was the driving force in helping set up the “HHATS Make a wish program”.
This allowed children in Indonesia who were sick with cancer, have a wish of their own. Denise helped make this happen, and through support of donors and people from Gilgandra, was able to grant many wishes.
Denise often says that it is the support of her local community that help make the biggest impact in her charity work overseas.
The whole community of Gilgandra gets behind Denise whether it is to donate goods, services, items to raffle or donated items to take overseas. The pharmacy assists with all their loose change, Royal Hotel, Rohrs Home Timber and Hardware and the local IGA store has been tremendous in their giving. Even the local motels, hotels, and fuel stations have donated in one way or the other.
When she is at home in Gilgandra, and with her children all working long hours, she is an amazing grandmother to her grandchildren an great-grandchildren. As well as her nieces, nephews and the neighbourhood kids.
From daily schoolwork, activity drop offs and pickups for the grandkids, hours spent at the skate park, she also does all the homework and driving lessons. She is a blessing to the children of Gilgandra as well as Indonesia.
Last year was the 20th anniversary since Denise and Graham founded the charity HHATS.
She is very proud to be part of this community and values all their involvement in helping her achieve her goals in Bali.
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Nominee Judith ‘Judy’ Shalhoub
Judy has been a very solid supporter of the Wednesday Singalong mornings and has been there to lead the singing at 50 of the 52 occasions last year.
She has taken on the responsibility of organising the morning tea, helping to set up the hall, serving those who cannot help themselves and generally making sure it all happens smoothly.
The Singalong is for everyone, usually with 15 to 25 people attending and up to 30 if guests arrive from the retirement home in Coonamble. The residents of the Coo-ee Lodge hostel attend as often as they are able, and some say this is the one thing that they look forward to each week. The activity coordinator has told us the difference it makes in their lives and it is very much appreciated.
Judy is also active in Gilgandra Alive Inc. and has at times been solely responsible for keeping that organisation going. It is surprising the number of times visitors to Gilgandra are offered hospitality at the Shalhoub residence.
She quietly assists people, worthy causes and community groups in many ways. She has participated in many organisations, groups and activities that support our town and its residents over many years. She is appreciated for her reliability, punctuality, thoughtfulness and ability to think outside the square when needed.
She was one of the long-term readers for Mark Cleaver, a commitment that she took very seriously.
Through the library she was one of the people who interviewed local personalities to record local history.
Her efforts in supporting any art exhibitions, musical events, concerts or business enterprises is quiet and unobtrusive but very real and practical.
