By Casey Neill
Diversity Week Awards celebrated six contributors to Greater Dandenong’s multi-cultural community and beyond.
Isaacs MP Mark Dreyfus presented the certificates at Noble Park Community Centre on Thursday 15 March.
“The City of Greater Dandenong is Melbourne’s thriving centre of multiculturalism and diversity,” he said.
“I am very pleased to be able to recognise the great contribution that the six recipients of these awards have made to our community.”
Dr Teong Soo Saw founded the Chinese Events Committee, which holds the annual Lunar New Year Charity Ball that has raised more than $500,000 for charity over the past 23 years.
William Wai is the Knox Chinese Elderly Citizens Club president and founded the Cheng Khor Moral Uplifting Society to promote peace and harmony within the Melbourne community.
Xi Xiu Xiao arrived in Australia in 1985 and has been a Chinese language teacher since the following year.
She’s an executive committee member of the Xinjiang Chinese Association and works to promote the benefits of harmony and multiculturalism.
The Xinjiang vice president since 2006, Ren Sheng Cao, was another recipient.
He’s said to be the first to turn up to activities and well-known for volunteering to set up and pack away events.
He migrated to Australia in 1985 and became involved with the Chinese Support Association of Victoria in 1987.
Chang Zhen Zheng is the Federation of Chinese Associations in Victoria vice president.
He plays a key role in bringing together different Chinese-Australian communities across Victoria and promoting Chinese cultural events across Melbourne.
East Timor Chinese Middle and Aged Association president of six years, Leong Fuc Leong, has organised fundraisers for the Victorian Bush Fire Appeal, the Queensland Flood Appeal, the Chinese Earthquake Appeal and the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital.
