A chance brush with fame set Leeton’s May Cameron on a lifetime of selfless work, which was recognised with a huge national award recently.
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It was a relationship beginning with a chance meeting in 1971 when she met Miss Australia Quest entrant Pina Artese, who was recruiting for her committee.
Within days, Mrs Cameron found herself a member of the Leeton fundraising committee, having had no experience with committees or any idea what her duties might be.
After 46 years of volunteering with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Ms Cameron was awarded Volunteer of the Year by the Fundraising Institute of Australia.
The 81-year-old took out the NSW fundraising award recently for raising nearly $1,000,000 during her time working with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance.
“You learn pretty quickly,” she said.
“We sure had a lot of fun.”
Mrs Cameron at first didn’t believe she had actually won the award.
“People were stopping me in the street to ask me why I didn’t tell them sooner,” she said.
“I had to tell them that I couldn’t believe it was true.”
Mrs Cameron was humble about her achievements saying the credit for raising the money isn’t really hers.
“It’s the Leeton community, the businesses, service clubs and the people of Leeton,” she said.
She said one of the main perks is meeting new people when selling raffle tickets – one of many reasons she doesn’t plan on stopping her plight anytime soon.