“When I saw Mrs Sudholz, I thought she was doing a really good deed for our community, so I wanted to give her an award to say I was grateful for what she did,” Lara said.
Two days later, Mrs Sudholz received a photo from Lara’s family of Lara holding two bags of rubbish she filled on a walk around the Wimmera River.
“I want to grow up to be like Mrs Sudholz and help the community in some way, so I thought I would go and pick up rubbish,” Lara said.
After seeing large amounts of rubbish displaced along the river bank, Lara’s passion to clean the environment grew deeper.
She said she was motivated to continue her efforts on a regular basis.
“Most weekends I’m planning to go and fill an empty bag with rubbish,” she said.
“There’s a lot of plastic bags and bottles that shouldn’t be there.
“The more rubbish, the less clean our environment will be.”
Mrs Sudholz said it was heartening to see a young person so determined to give back to her community.
“We’ve all got stewardship for that area – clearly this girl is open to that community spirit,” she said.
“It’s quite special to witness those young attitudes being formed – seeing that ingenuity, deciding to write out an award and hand deliver it, that’s not easy for young kids to do.”
Mrs Sudholz said Lara’s leadership would make her a great role model in the region.
“Graffiti is what sparked all of this, starting out as a negative, it turned out to be a real positive,” she said.
“There are very impressionable and responsible young community members eager to do the right thing. The graffitist should follow Lara’s example.”
– Dylan De Jong
The entire July 8, 2020 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
