MEGAN Vuillermin, a Sandy Point local, has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition for her outstanding service to the Corner Inlet Community.
“It's all a bit uncomfortable and a bit overwhelming,” declared Megan, adding that it was also an honour and a tribute to a community of volunteers.
“There’s always a team; it’s never just one person.
“There are so many amazing people in our community and I imagine I do more than some and not more than others.”
Megan is a self-confessed “serial committee person,” with a love of organising, which began when she was just a teenager, yet she downplays her skills, stating,
“I've just followed my children through kinder and school, not unlike many before me and many that will come after me.”
Since officially making Sandy Point her home 24 years ago, after a lifelong connection to the area, Megan has been a committee member (and president) for Fish Creek Kindergarten, Foster Basketball Association, Relay for Life Fish Creek, and on the Lead, Rebuild Committee.
She is the founder and administrator for various community social media groups including ‘Sandy Point/Waratah Bay Community Noticeboard’ and ‘Save the Alberton League Clubs’.
Megan was a carer for Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative and president of the Southern Business Women’s Network for three years, the school councillor at Fish Creek Primary School for six years and has been fundraising for breast cancer for 25 years.
“Whether it's a function or it's just a mini fundraiser I would raise money at the Fish Creek Pub on a Friday night, in their raffle – do something to put money towards it,” said Megan, who is a two-time survivor of breast cancer.
Her greatest accomplishment, however, and one that Megan feels the proudest of, is establishing the Prom Coast Centre for Children – all the while running her own business and raising two young children.
“The only thing that was available was an occasional care centre which you could have access to for five hours, twice a week. That's all. And when I needed it, we were told it was closing down,” explained Megan.
“Lots of businesses were having trouble getting staff because there wasn't childcare, and one of them was the hospital.
“I led several groups and lobbied governments and organisations and worked steadily to get what was then the first childcare.
“I worked on that for years and I knew when I started that, by the time it was finished, my kids would be too old for it, which was the case, but it was well needed."
“That was something I poured my heart into at the time,” said Megan.
When the Prom Coast Centre for Children eventually opened, it became a local hub with childcare, kindergarten, and maternal health available.
It has now expanded to encompass five childcare centres across the towns of Corner Inlet.
Currently, Megan is a committee member, secretary and umpire for the Fish Creek Football and Netball Club after being a coach and player, and has been working to secure the rebuild of the club rooms after they were burnt down in an arson attack, commenting that this project has been her biggest challenge yet.
Despite having good financial backing from the community and both state and federal governments, the committee keep running into red tape, with local bureaucratic processes holding up progression.
(Fortunately, the committee have this OAM force of nature on their side).
Of volunteering, Megan believes that it’s almost selfish because she gets so much in return and encourages others to just turn up and put their hand up and insist on doing something, even if they think they can’t, to have a go and get involved.
“I think that it just broadens your community and it broadens your network and puts you in touch with some amazing people.”
She also believes volunteers are vital to keeping clubs in the country alive and thriving.
“We've got less and less volunteers on the ground, they're harder to find, particularly since COVID, and clubs and groups don't run without them; and having lived in Melbourne and lived in the country – the country really rely on volunteers,” said Megan – whose small community has felt and continues to feel the positive impact of her continuous, tireless and fearless volunteering efforts.