Filipino community worker named Blacktown woman of the year
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Julie Nunez, third from left, receives her 2010 Blacktown Woman of the Year award with, from left, Councillor Kathie Collins, Mayor Charlie Lowles, and Councillor Julie Griffiths.
A Filipino woman from Woodcroft, Julie Nunez, was named 2010 Blacktown Woman of the Year and presented with the prestigious award at an International Woman of the Year breakfast hosted by Blacktown City Council early this month.
This followed a state of NSW accolade for Ms Nunez in December 2009 as recipient of a prestigious 2009 Chifley Community Volunteer Award for service to the community of western Sydney.
A client service officer with the NSW Department of Housing, Ms Nunez is better known for her volunteer work in the city of Blacktown and with the Filipino community in western Sydney.
During the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, she was an accreditation officer, and then served as a volunteer during World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008, assisting hundreds of overseas visitors. Ms Nunez again volunteered as an accreditation officer for the Sydney Masters Games in 2009.
The Filipino community has benefited from her various civic activities and positions. Ms Nunez is current president of the Philippine Australian Community Services Inc (PACSI). During her 14 years with PACSI, she taught seniors of the organisation line dancing as a form of exercise to keep them healthy and fit.
As a client service officer, she has helped countless homeless people and families and assisted them with temporary accommodation to keep them safe and off the streets.
She is a founding member and a board member of the Philippine Health Care Association of Australia (PHCAA), an association that upholds the contributions of the Filipino health care providers to the community.
Ms Nunez is treasurer of the Ateneo Alumni Association of Australia and founder of the Chavacano Association of Australia (CAA). A former community research worker at the Immigrant Women’s Resource Centre NSW, she completed a study on settlement needs of Filipino immigrant women in NSW. Copies of her report had been published and distributed to various government and non-government agencies for their referral and information. Recommendations formulated were taken into consideration and implemented by various government agencies.
As coordinator of the Community Bilingual Program in Blacktown, Ms Nunez developed a pilot program of information for parents and students from non-English-speaking backgrounds to make them aware of the services available in the community. This program was funded by Ethnic Communities Council of Australia and sponsored by the Blacktown Migrant Resource Centre.
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Posted by Jaime K. Pimentel
on Mar 23 2010. Filed under Blacktown, Women.
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She is one true deserving community personality in Blacktown. Being a resident of Blacktown since 1994 and a Filipino Australian, I am very proud of Julie Nunez. I consider her a gem in the Australian community. She deserved to be nominated as an OAM. I find her to be a woman without any air of pretensions, who has a very pleasant and friendly personality. She is a role model for all Filipino Australians. Her devotion and commitment to community service is very visible and transparent. She can be seen in any Filipino religious, civic or social events without trying hard to be noticed as some other Filipino Australians who sometimes gate crashed in the presidential table to be noticed.
I hope a political party of her own choosing should approach her and make her a candidate in the next Blacktown Local Elections. Julie Nunez has all the academic and community leadership qualifications that any aspiring politician requires.
As a member of Australian Labor Party (ALP), I would like to invite her to join her local ALP Branch in Doonside, she will be an asset to the residents of Blacktown City and the whole of Australia.
Hail Julie and congratulations.
Tom Baena