Sydney, Australia—Six persons who are widely recognized for their service to others were presented by UPF with Living for Others Awards.
The event, which took place on December 7, 2015, at the Oceania Peace Embassy in Sydney, has been held regularly over the past ten years to honor UPF Founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, who promoted and exemplified the ethic of living for the sake of others extensively during his life.
After the traditional welcome to country by aboriginal elder Ms. Pearl Wymarra, an introductory video of UPF was shown and then each of the awardees was welcomed up in turn to receive their award. The emcee, Mrs. Jynene Helland, read a description of the remarkable contributions that each awardee had made to the community, and each responded with a few words about why they liked to live for the sake of others.
The six awardees were: Mr. Andrew Chalk, founding chair of the community development organization Gawad Kalinga Australia; Ms. Elizabeth Tehoiahoi Corner, president of the Melanesian Fellowship and member of the Sydney PNG Wantok Club; Dr. Barbara Ferguson, OAM (Order of Australia Medal), teacher, social worker, and counselor with refugees and orphaned children in Australia and overseas; Mr. Ernest Kulauzovic, architect, charity worker, prison chaplain and project manager for Affinity Intercultural Foundation; Father Chris Riley, AM (Member of the Order of Australia), founder and CEO of Youth off the Streets, an organization that works with disadvantaged youth; and Col. Vo Dai Ton, a highly decorated retired officer in the Vietnamese army, noted poet, author, artist and human rights activist.
The room was packed, and it was truly an inspirational evening. It was particularly moving to hear about the lives of the awardees. Uplifted by their examples, everyone felt a renewed impetus to live for the sake of others in their own life.