
As strong advocates for empowering vulnerable people in the community, and demonstrating amazing commitment, perseverance and passion, Mission Australia proudly awarded Carolina Soto and Iresha Siridwardana with the Volunteer Celebrate Award for June 2009.
Carolina and Iresha both belong to the association, NSW Young Lawyers. All members are under 25 and undertake voluntary work. Both Carolina and Iresha share a special interest in working with refugee clients, identified as one of the most vulnerable groups in our community.
Over the last year Carolina and Iresha organised three workshops for the Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Scheme in Sydney and Newcastle. They provided essential legal information to newly arrived refugees, informing them of their rights and responsibilities in Australia. Although they are both full-time lawyers, they devoted their limited spare time to developing, coordinating and facilitating these workshops. Always maintaining great respect for the knowledge and expertise of our service staff, they shaped their presentations accordingly.
Carolina commented that the most rewarding aspect of volunteering with Mission Australia was ‘without a doubt, working alongside Mission Australia's energetic staff and meeting all of the participants who have been part of the workshops. They have taught me so much in return about their culture and their understanding of the Australian legal system’.
Iresha echoes this, saying ‘the wonderful thing about working with MA is that they adapt and embrace new ideas. We have found that when ever we come to MA with an idea the team make every effort to make that idea into a reality. So really anyone who wants to volunteer need only come with passion.’
The success of each workshop can be attributed to the time Carolina and Iresha invested in perfecting each topic area, with weeks of liaison with our staff. Feedback from the clients, mainly of refugee status, was positive and indicated that they had gained a greater knowledge and confidence about Australian law. They appreciated the compassion and respect that Carolina and Iresha displayed at all times.
In turn, Iresha shared how she was inspired by the clients. ‘Talking to the participants and understanding their individual needs and listening to their life experiences has been very rewarding...I always left the workshops filled with much admiration for the participants and I am eternally thankful that they shared their stories with us.’
Congratulations Carolina and Iresha on this award and we thank you for your contribution to the vision of seeing a fairer Australia! We are sure you have inspired staff across Mission Australia to seek new ways to engage volunteers and to encourage more people within the community can share their talents in unique ways.

The Celebrate Awards are a national program throughout Mission Australia that congratulate, recognise and reward our hard working staff as well as our volunteers.








