Mohammed Ali, founder and President of local charity HelpingACT, has been named the Canberra Citizen of the Year for 2022.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr made the announcement earlier this morning, Tuesday 15 March, as part of the Canberra Day celebrations.
At a ceremony at Albert Hall, Mr Barr said Mr Ali was recognised for his dedication to supporting vulnerable members of the community through his roles with HelpingACT, the ACT Multicultural Advisory Council, the ACT Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Humanitarian Coordination Committee, and Companion House.
“I feel overwhelmed, completely in disbelief, and very, very humbled,” Mr Ali said. “It is not me who is recognised. What is recognised is definitely my volunteers.”
Mr Ali, a Pakistani migrant, retired biochemist, and former Multicultural Volunteer of the Year, founded HelpingACT in 2018 to provide food security to Canberrans who need it, particularly homeless people, refugees and asylum seekers, and international students.
He also started Forum Australia, a thrice-yearly panel on issues that concern Australians.
The honour showed “a great recognition for the inequalities and the plight of the people who are struggling at the moment”, Mr Ali said.
Canberra’s food need has tripled; every day, HelpingACT receives at least four or five requests for help. Salaries have not risen, and Centrelink payments are low, so some people are only eating half their bodily needs, Mr Ali said.
“To think that this situation will ease in a few weeks’ time, I think, will be fooling ourselves,” Mr Ali said. “This post-COVID era has longer shadows, and we have to prepare. An underclass is developing in Canberra. They are the people with low incomes. And they are finding it hard because petrol prices have gone up, and grocery prices have almost doubled.”
HelpingACT delivers food directly to those people; to community organisations like Companion House, Havelock House, the Early Morning Centre, and Woden Community Service; and to street and church pantries. During the 2019/20 bushfires, HelpingACT partnered with Slabs for Heroes to donate goods to fire-affected areas, and prepared meals for families at evacuation centres.
It was a way Canberra’s diverse communities could help people in need, and make Canberra one of the best cities in the world.
“Not many cities are as affluent as Canberra,” Mr Ali said. “We take it as a duty to help these people to come out of this cycle. Our dream is that no one sleeps hungry in Canberra.”
Last year, the Governor-General himself commended the charity for their hard work, particularly during lockdown. Again, the public paid tribute to HelpingACT when they raised $30,000 – $10,000 more than Mr Ali had hoped – for a new delivery van and trailer.
- Governor-General commends HelpingACT’s hard work in lockdown
- Van needed: HelpingACT seeks public’s help to get back on the road
- Canberrans open their hearts for HelpingACT
With their new vehicle, HelpingACT will start holding monthly barbecues in Civic or Dickson, and deliver food to Bungendore and the region.
Mr Ali wants to set up a virtual centre where homeless people can talk about how they came to live on the streets, and so help agencies minimise homelessness.
As Citizen of the Year and head of HelpingACT, Mr Ali wants to increase awareness of cultures – which sounds like a cliché, he says, but there is still a big gap.
Migrant resettlement agencies do excellent work, but not always know what food is culturally appropriate; Mr Ali wants to review the list of food items for different communities. He will work with the University of Canberra to deliver more food to First Australians. Volunteers will cook Pakistani or Indian food at the Early Morning Centre, and HelpingACT will ensure Muslims in schools or prisons have appropriate food during Ramadan.
The public can help Helping ACT. HelpingACT wants more volunteers with cars who can deliver food. At the moment, families often receive food a couple of days after they request help; with more volunteers, those groceries could be delivered the next day.
The public could buy groceries that locals or migrant communities need, and deliver it to HelpingACT in Franklin or Wright. And with a few dollars, Helping ACT, Canberra’s “food soldiers”, could buy groceries.
HelpingACT and similar organisations do not want much money from the public, Mr Ali said; if even a quarter of Canberra’s 400,000 inhabitants donated $1 a month, there would be enough to solve many of the city’s problems – and Canberra could set an example to other cities.
“Canberra should be and must be compassionate, and a city full of care and love,” Mr Ali said. “That is the real Canberra. Let’s work together to bring a smile to the faces of all the people who are struggling. Let’s keep the flame of love and care alive.”
“I look forward to seeing him continue to make an impact in our community over the coming 12 months and beyond,” Mr Barr said.
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