By ALANA MITCHELSON
Working tirelessly to raise $18,000 for a Geelong Police youth program over three years has won an award for a Leopold man.
Ken Flavell has a long history of working with young people, having been a primary school teacher over 50 years at a number of locations across Victoria. Initially working at various rural schools, he later worked in schools at Corio, Norlane and Leopold.
“Being in the industry for so many years, you learn a lot about young people and how every child is different,” Ken said.
“I worked as an integration teacher when they were first introduced and I worked in that area for a while.
“In some ways it fits in with the issue of people being disengaged with schooling and that’s where this program really helps.”
Ken won his award for assisting Victoria Police’s Geelong youth program The Kokoda Youth Project. The 10-day Kokoda Track trek involves a number of training sessions to prepare youths for the challenging hike while serving as an avenue for young people to re-engage with their communities.
Victoria Police regional youth officer Leading Senior Constable Andrew Brittain said the program provided an opportunity for officers and local business operators to create positive relationships with young people who had “contact with police”.
He described Ken as a kind and considerate man with a passion to help young people in his community.
“Ken was very interested and obviously had knowledge of the challenges young people are currently facing and volunteered to assist in raising money for the program,” Ldg Sen Const Brittain said.
“As a result of Ken raising funds for our program, he has changed three young people’s lives.
“He’s also raised awareness in our community of the challenges young people deal with by running fund-raisers and speaking with community members.
“There are many people who do wonderful things in our community which go unnoticed, so we wanted to give recognition to his work that has benefited many.”
Ken first came across the program when trying to help a friend.
“A lady at Leopold Uniting Church had a grandson who was slowly going off the rails. She wanted to know what she could do and the truth was there was really nothing I could do, so I referred her to the youth program and I’ve been involved with them ever since.
“What I’ve found is that if you have a good cause people will be willing to support you. I’m lucky that I have good relationships with Leopold Lions Club and the Uniting Church.”
Since retiring, Ken has been involved with many charity groups, giving back to the community.
His next self-set challenge is to launch a Great Leopold Trivia Night next year, with the hope to gain support from local kindergartens, sports clubs, churches and other community groups.
