So much so that last Saturday, Glenys Davis, was announced 2019 Australia Day Federation Council Citizen of the Year.
“Glenys founded the Eva May Foundation and is responsible for a lot of charity work within Mulwala and the Federation Council area,” Mayor Pat Bourke told the estimated 350 people in attendance.
“The funds from the Eva May Foundation help to assist those in financial and emotional aid. Some examples are local families who are suffering from medical problems, families struggling to meet travel and accommodation expenses, utility bills, to purchase clothing and food items.”
Glenys, 66, said she was very humbled and grateful to the local community and generous volunteers who have assisted her in charity work over the years.
Upon receiving the ‘shire’s’ top award, Glenys said: “This is just fabulous. I’m very honoured. Thank you to the people who nominated me and the Mulwala community.” Glenys also received the 2019 Local Achiever Award Mulwala.
A fourth generation local resident and a very proud Aussie, Glenys believes the charity pathway had something to do with her genes.
“My Grandad Angus Nicholson and my Nan Eva May Nicholson both pitched in and helped the community throughout their lives,” Glenys explained.
“Grandad was a councillor in our local area here in the 1940s and had the mail run in the 40s and 50s. He and Nan served on the committee of the Local Comforts Fund during World War 2.”
That fund provided free ‘comfort items’ not supplied by the services to all Australian servicemen. These items included singlets, socks, pyjamas, cigarettes, razor blades and soap – many of which are available, as justified, from Glenys’s foundation and Op Shop in Melbourne Street Mulwala.
The Eva May Foundation was established seven years ago to raise funds for humanitarian aid in Myanmar and some local causes. “My Nan helped poor families who struggled during the Great Depression in the Mulwala area, Glenys said.
“My Nan was my inspiration and still drives my work in the local community today. Since opening our new Op Shop, we have been blown away with the generosity of the local community in providing quality goods for us to sell.”
The star of the show thanked all the volunteers at the Eva May Foundation Op Shop, her loving parents Joan and Joker Nicholson “who played over 300 games for the great Maroon and Golds, now the Lions and my greatest supporter, my late husband, ‘Woofa’ Ian Davis”.
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