Brett Harrod awarded SLSA life membership
Umina Surf Life Saving Club member Brett Harrod has been made a life member of Surf Life Saving Australia with Cap 302.
He was awarded life membership at the Surf Life Saving Australia National Awards of Excellence held online due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
His citation said: "Brett has made a sustained and distinguished contribution to surf life saving as president of Umina SLSC, Central Coast Branch, Surf Life Saving New South Wales and as a director of Surf Life Saving Australia.
"As a Surf Life Saving Australia board member, Brett chaired and facilitated working groups that implemented a number of lifesaving initiatives that have been implemented nationally and other states.
"Brett achieved the strategic goal of financial sustainability by securing $24 million to build eight new surf life saving clubs, allowing them to generate revenue and engage with the local community.
"Further to this Brett expanded surf life saving services by leading and managing the implementation of the commercial operations of SLSNSW services that included the lifeguard and commercial training of SLSNSW.
"Other significant achievements included developing the standard operating procedures for life saving services and a state-wide emergency services response system which created a national best practice standard; introduction of the 13SURF 24-hour rescue call out service; developing a national event venue selection matrix which enabled a review of venues against a criteria to determine its suitability to conduct events as well as a revised bid hosting criteria and agreements."
Two other Umina club members were nominated for national awards.
Club life member Paul Sharpe was nominated for Life Saver of the Year and Harold Marshall was nominated for Volunteer of the Year.
Paul and Harold took out two of the night's top honours at the NSW Awards of Excellence back in August, making history as the club's first recipients of these awards.
"I'm very excited, it's an honour and I'm humbled," Paul said about his nomination.
"You don't do what you do for the recognition.
"You do it for your community."
"We give a lot back to the community and the community gives a lot to us.
"We are a family club, and everything that comes through to us goes back to the community."
Harold amassed more than 650 hours of volunteering over the last 12 months in a range of roles within the Umina club as well as supporting the branch, NSW Surf Life Saving and Surf Life Saving Australia.
"Wearing the red and yellow cap on patrol gives me the greatest satisfaction," he said.
"It fills me with great pride knowing that I represent this amazing movement that has given me and my family so much more than I could ever give back."
SOURCE:
Social media, 3 Nov 2021
Umina SLSC
Website, 6 Nov 2021
Surf Life Saving Australia