The programme will award two finalists from each Westfield Living Centre with $5,000, and one finalist will receive $20,000 for their organisation or charity.
Aandrea Ingram from Penrith is one of the Local Heroes finalists – a tireless volunteer, Aandrea works with non-profit Pink Mountains Youth. It’s a social group for LGBTQIA+ youth aged 13-20. Aandrea’s chaotic life as a wife with 10 children never interferes with helping young people through their challenges, including accessing health and wellbeing support.
Here, we chat to Aandrea about Pink Mountains Youth, and what it’s like to be recognised by this Westfield initiative.
Tell us a bit about Pink Mountains Youth.
Pink Mountains Youth is a support group for young LGBTQIA+ people from the Blue Mountains ages 13+. It meets monthly, alternating between the Katoomba and Springwood Youth Centres. It is run by volunteer facilitators and creates a safe space/environment for the young people to share, ask questions and discuss things that are important to them. It creates a social network of young people that isn’t limited by schools or online only and has had young people coming for all seven years that it has been going.
Why is this non-profit important to you, personally?
Pink Mountains Youth came out of an identified need for young people across the Blue Mountains. It has been supported by different parts of the community through fundraising (Eurovision Live Stream at Mount Vic Flicks annually), promotion (schools, community groups and health providers), but also strong word-of-mouth. Parents have fed back to us how much it means to them that their child has somewhere to meet others like them and be themselves. For me, this is so rewarding and demonstrates that things have shifted in society so much since I was their age.
What’s your favourite thing about being involved?
The young people are amazing! They make me laugh, they inspire me and I am always amazed by their strength of character as they share their stories of navigating the world.
And why is it important for young LGBTQIA+ people to have resources like Pink Mountains?
There are definite gaps in education both at schools and within the health system. We get asked questions by professionals all the time especially about transgender people. So we definitely fill that gap. It also provides a safe space for social connection which is so important for finding your tribe. And despite so many things being online, it is clear nothing beats the face-to-face experience to meet others.
What is your role in the organisation?
I am a volunteer facilitator. I have been in this role for seven years.
And what does it mean to be a finalist for Westfield Local Heroes?
I wasn’t expecting to be nominated and I acknowledge the other finalists for their nominations and the amazing work their organisations achieve for our local community. Pink Mountains Youth is a very positive and enthusiastic group of local LGBTQIA+ community members and I’m proud to share this work with such stalwart, courageous and downright dedicated people. The opportunity to gain money to improve and extend our service is valuable to resource programmes for so many young people.
What’s the best thing about recognising local community in something like Westfield Local Heroes?
It brings people together from all walks of life and establishes connection to each other.
Voting is open until 22 August. Check out Westfield’s website to cast your vote.
