Fundraising Manager of Variety \u2013 the Children\u2019s Charity WA Katie O\u2019Donnell has received the Community Service Award at the 2018 Curtin Alumni Achievement Awards for spearheading fundraisers for sick, disadvantaged or special needs children.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell devised this year\u2019s \u2018Silence the CEO\u2019 fundraiser, an initiative where CEOs and government leaders were challenged to take a vow of silence for a day and encouraged to raise funds for children with complex communication needs. The initiative raised $26,000.<\/p>\n
Her fundraising repertoire includes developing the annual Variety of Choice Home Lottery, which offers participants the chance to win a major house prize worth $1 million, and the annual Variety Christmas Toy Drive, which collects more than $30,000-worth of new toys each year.<\/p>\n
This year there were two recipients of the Community Service Award at the 2018 Curtin Alumni Achievement Awards<\/a>, with O\u2019Donnell awarded alongside health sciences graduate Gloria Sutherland, a former director of the Kimberley Population Health Unit at the WA Department of Health.<\/p>\n O\u2019Donnell says that while she is proud to be recognised alongside such high calibre recipients, teamwork is the key to her success.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was such an honour, but I still don\u2019t feel worthy. I\u2019m simply doing what I love and ultimately I am just an employee \u2013 it\u2019s the volunteers and donors who deserve all the credit.\u201d<\/p>\n