With Tomorrow Today continuing to do incredible things in the Benalla community, it won’t be a shock to anyone that its founding director, Sally Gamble, has been recognised on the Australia Day honours list.
Her work with Tomorrow Today is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of her volunteer work in the community.
“Tomorrow Today, Benalla’s community foundation, was created in 2001 for the long-term benefit of the local community,” Ms Gamble said.
“Always true to its purpose, it has become so much more than I could have imagined in those early days.
“The establishment of our extraordinarily ambitious Education Benalla Program was a critical turning point, later supported by the purchase of a permanent home for the foundation and all its activities.
“It’s quite remarkable now to see the breadth of carefully targeted activity happening in partnerships across the community to support a generation of local children to reach their potential.
“None of this would be possible without the trust and support of an enormous number of people in many and varied ways, combined with the commitment and expertise of board members and staff.
“In my role as a board member of Community Foundations Australia, I am fortunate to see the full range of outstanding work done by community foundations across the country.
“Tomorrow Today is a national leader in engaging a whole community to create lasting, positive change.
“I am incredibly proud to have played a part in Tomorrow Today’s growth and development.”
Ms Gamble was also vice-president of the Regent Honeyeater Project, working to save the endangered native species, from 2008 to 2021.
“This very successful conservation project works with local landholders, volunteers and schools to protect and restore our local environment,” she said.
“Over the last 25 plus years, approximately 2500 hectares of habitat has been planted and/or protected to create strategic habitat links across the landscape, providing a more secure future for a number of threatened species across the region.”
Ms Gamble was also chair of the Benalla Botanical Gardens and Riverine Parkland Committee for four years.
And she has been a member of the Ovens Murray Regional Partnership for Regional Development Victoria, president of the Friends of Benalla Botanical Gardens, and was actively involved with the Benalla East Primary School, now the Avon St Campus of Benalla P-12 College.
“Our botanical gardens are a special part of Benalla, with historical and botanical significance,” she said.
“In the early to mid-2000s, the Benalla Botanical Gardens Conservation Plan was implemented with a significant contribution from the ‘Friends’, including advocacy, funding and hands-on planting.
“This built on decades of effort by previous committee members.”
Ms Gamble said volunteering had been a hugely rewarding part of her life that she could not recommend enough.
“A great many volunteers contribute to all aspects of life in Benalla,” she said.
“I highly recommend volunteering to anyone in the position to give some time to an area that interests them.”