ACT Volunteer of the Year honoured for shining spotlight on people living with HIV

Richard “call me Rach” Allen was nominated in the Inclusion category at the 2023 ACT Volunteer of the Year awards held this week. When another name was called out for the title, his best friend Samara Garrett, who nominated him, started to get upset.

“Don’t worry,” he told her. “Just being here is honour enough. I’m here. That makes me a winner.”

But minutes later, Rach was the one to get upset when his name was called as the winner of the big gong, ACT’s Volunteer of the Year.

“I went into shock when they called out my name,” he said. “Then I started crying and couldn’t stop.

“They called me on to the stage and I was in five-inch stiletto heels. This woman said to me, ‘you can’t go on stage wearing that, pointing to my sparkly jacket, you’ll outshine all the rest of us’.

“When I got up on stage I didn’t know whether to be Richard or Rach … that’s my drag queen name.

“But seriously, for me, it’s not about winning an award. It’s about working together to solve a problem at hand.”

For the past 40 years, Rach has worked, voluntarily, to foster a more inclusive Canberra community.

Although his list of credits is long, it’s probably the $190,000 he raised to establish an AIDS Garden of Reflection at the National Arboretum that he takes most pride in.

“It took a lot of sausages to raise that sort of money,” he said.

But there was a serious message. His partner for around 17 years, Kimbo, passed away in 1994.

“He didn’t know he had AIDS until it was too late,” Rach said. “That’s how it was back then.

“We lost 19 people to AIDS that year. A lot of boys that I knew.”

Rach, who has been living with HIV for 33 years, said he was lucky to have such a great support community around him.

“My doctor looks after me, my friends look after me, I couldn’t ask for a better support network than the one here in the ACT,” he said.

“It is unbelievable. I can’t put it into words how much it means to me.”

Rach has returned the love to his community, leading the CampBerra Float at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for 42 years as well as providing peer support to people living with HIV/AIDS.

“I’ve got politicians to march in it, police … so many people.”

In announcing Rach as Volunteer of the Year, host organisation VolunteeringACT said his work had “immeasurable impact on the Canberra community and has created a vibrant and inclusive environment, marked by passionate advocacy and awareness initiatives that actively dismantle barriers”.

2023 ACT Volunteer of the Year award winners: Young Volunteer of the Year: Georgia Elliot (Ronald McDonald House, Scouts); Senior Volunteer of the Year: Marion Williams (Questacon); First Nations Volunteer of the Year: Cyndy Newman Piromalli and Wendy Brookman (Valley Dragons Junior Rugby League Football Club); Inclusion Award: John Eggleton (MIEACT); Volunteer Leadership: Brigite Tehei O’Keeffe (food relief); Volunteer Team of the Year: Victim Support ACT Victims Justice Volunteer Program; Canberra’s Choice Award: Rachel Eslick-Angus (Feel the Magic camp mentor); Volunteer of the Year: Richard Allen (Meridian).

Highly commended: Zoe Barlow (Good Omen Goodeze); Isha Singhal (Youth Coalition ACT, ANU peer support); Neville Tomkins (Scouts, Red Cross, Vinnies); Carol Jennings (Water Wombats); Vinnies migrant and rescue program volunteers; Sarah Kelly (Karinya House); Rachel Eslick-Angus (Feel the Magic); Majura pines trail alliance; and Perinatal Wellbeing Centre volunteers.