For Geoffrey Mcllvenna, lending a hand has never been about recognition, it’s just the way life is supposed to be lived,
“It just happens mate, if there’s something to do you just do it,” Mr Mcllvenna said.
The South Morang resident has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through a lifetime of volunteer work spanning youth clubs, sport, Rotary and the police force.
Mr Mcllvenna served as mayor of Whittlesea in 1993-94 and was a councillor for 11 years.
He spent over three decades with the Whittlesea basketball association, serving as chair, vice-chair, and earning life membership.
“Helping young people at youth clubs and the Rotary Club, then going to the police force, then helping out sports teams in basketball, netball, tennis. You name it, I just got involved in it,“ he said.
His most cherished project was sparked by a chance encounter with humanitarian Moira Kelly at a Rotary luncheon.
“She’s renowned for her work bringing to Australia children with serious health problems that local doctors are unable to treat,” Mr Mcllvenna said.
“I spoke to her at a luncheon and asked her what she wanted to do when she got older. She said she really wanted a place on a farm where she could look after the kids she treated.
“So I said we would build a Moira one. I got a few blokes together from the Rotary and we built her a farm up at East Kilmore, and started the Children First Foundation. It was such a magnificent project and all the Kilmore community helped out.
“I would go look at that farm and think, gee we built this –not me, we!”
On receiving the OAM, Mr Mcllvenna remained humble insisting it’s not about his achievements.
“This is for all those people who helped me, it’s not just for me. I just happened to be the bloke in charge.”
Mr Mcllvenna credits the Rotary’s ethos – service above self – as the true driver behind his decades of tireless and selfless work
