Don Luff’s recent actions in initiating an act of kindness that gave a wheelchair-dependant man his independence back has made him the latest recipient of council’s Community Recognition award.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillor John McGregor wanted to recognise the Young business owner by nominating him for the award at council’s last monthly meeting on August 20.
Forty-nine-year-old Colin Edgar had two disability scooters stolen from under the pergola of his Cowper Street home two weeks ago.
This motivated Don Luff to phone the John Laws radio show on August 19 to tell Colin’s story.
The story compelled a blind man, Peter Osmond from Ocean Shores in northern NSW to donate his second-hand scooter.
Then a company called Tower’s Transport delivered the scooter to Newcastle men Steven Conbery and John Davey who offered to deliver it to Young.
Steven Conbery is a carer who looks after his 13-year-old son with special needs. He is also the carer of John, another man with special needs.
“This [story] just shows what a good citizen he (Don) is,” Cr McGregor said at the council meeting.
But the generosity of the town didn’t stop there.
Upon Steven and John’s arrival in Young on Saturday, locals rallied together to support and thank them.
South West Fuel donated part of the cost of the men’s fuel, while the Federation Motor Inn gave them a free night’s accommodation.
Nick Hall, president of the Young Junior Rugby League Club, also gave the men free Cherrypicker guernseys, which they proudly wore in a photo published in The Witness on Wednesday.
Don said Steven had nothing but praise for the town and their generosity.
Steven – who is a “mad dog lover” – also showed his support for the town and booked another night’s accommodation and attended the Young Greyhound Racing Club meeting on Sunday.
“He loved it here, he said ‘we’ll definitely be back for holidays’,” Don said.
“He said ‘it’s a beautiful and wonderfully clean town, just magic’… which is fantastic.”
Don is currently collecting all the newspaper clippings of the stories about Colin and what’s followed since his scooters were stolen to send to Peter – who donated the new scooter – and John Laws.
