Glenn Box - who was instrumental in the 200 Bales drought campaign and Can Cruise that last year celebrated a decade - was named the Mid-Western Region’s Citizen of the Year at the 2019 Australia Day Awards.
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The ceremony also saw the local car club Cudgegong Cruisers’ annual Can Cruise – an event which Glenn is one of the organisers and founders – awarded Community Event of the Year, and 200 Bales nominated for the Volunteer Service Award.
Satisfied those groups had been recognised, he said he was surprised and humbled to be called up for the final award of the day.
“The nomination [for Citizen of the Year] was totally unexpected, I was honoured but I certainly didn’t think that I would be in with a chance to be awarded something like that,” he said.
“It’s not like any of us do that type of work in the community for accolades. I was pleased and honoured by the 200 Bales group nomination and also the Can Cruise community event award, they were more important to me than an individual award.
“But I am honoured that someone thought highly enough as an individual to nominate me. It’s very humbling to be thought of within that calibre of people, because I would think that there are so many people that give up more time to the community than I do.”
200 Bales – the community project helping drought affected farmers in the Mid Western Region Council area – began with Glenn and a small group to fund one truck of hay and quickly grew as the community pledged bale after bale at $200 apiece. And soon there were events – such as Day in the Dirt – that further supported the campaign.
“It certainly exceeded any expectation of what we thought it would do ten-fold,” he said.
“But it was more a case of once the community showed the amount of support they wanted to give it we had to go along with their ride – it was our idea but we ended up doing what they wanted to do.”
Glenn credited the oft-talked about generosity of the Mudgee area as what really propelled the project to the heights that it reached.
So if someone has an idea that could benefit the community I reckon they should give it a crack.
- Glenn Box, Mid-Western Region Citizen of the Year
“If you try and find another drought relief campaign that was conducted anywhere in the country that was like 200 Bales, I don’t think you’ll find one. And that’s simply because the community wanted it to happen,” he said.
"There’s places far worst affected than ours to be brutally honest, there’s parts of this state and south-west Queensland that could do with it a whole lot more but our area wanted it and that’s how it went about it.
“We’re so unique and so good at supporting one-another it’s become a culture in this region, that’s what makes it such a good spot to be. The way I look at it is that it’s like money in the bank, if you give while you can and the shoe’s ever on the other foot you can rest assured that it’ll be there.”
The 2019 Citizen of the Year hopes that this honour will show others that you can make a difference.
“If it does anything I hope it inspires people to get in and do a little bit each for the community and get things happening and new projects coming forward,” he said.
“Just look at Can Cruise, it was originally a one-day get together back in 2009 and this year will be the 11th run and in that time it’s raised over $100,000, also the Cudgegong Cruisers was born as a result.
“So if someone has an idea that could benefit the community I reckon they should give it a crack.”
Mid-Western Region 2019 Australia Day award winners:
- Citizen of the Year – Glenn Box;
- Young Citizen of the Year – Tayla Young;
- Community Event of the Year – Cudgegong Cruisers Can Cruise;
- Glenn Johnston Memorial Award, Music and Arts – Katherine Wilson;
- Sports Award – Lincoln Huia;
- Volunteer Services Award – Kevin and Jan Robson;
- Wall of Reflections – Cameron Cox and Les Cook.
