JULIE Hill is a pioneer and the Centacare staff member has been recognised for her work in the city's suburb of that name.
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She was announced winner of the Origin Energy Regional Service Award, which was announced at the Queensland Regional Achievement and Community Awards in Toowoomba on November 9.
The award recognised Mrs Hill's work in developing the Home Interaction Program for Parents and Youngsters at Pioneer.
Mrs Hill was one of 400 people nominated.``I have to say I was delighted. I was really excited, but I was excited for my team too,'' she said.
Mrs Hill said having a physical presence in Pioneer for the first time five years ago was the catalyst for being able to meet the community's needs.
Mrs Hill said Centacare decided to open an office at Pioneer to connect with residents.
``It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with the families and the children and develop trust,'' she said.
Mrs Hill said a number of initiatives including parenting programs, mothers' groups, providing breakfast for children before they went to school and mentoring the unemployed were introduced.
``We had all these interesting programs evolve from what we were learning from being there,'' she said.
Four years ago the HIPPY program was developed to help mothers develop the skills and confidence they need to be their child's first teacher.
``Each year we recruit 30 families and from those families five of those mums become home tutors,'' she said.
Mrs Hill said those home tutors became part-time Centacare employees, who brought their children to work.
She said they were trained to implement the HIPPY program into the homes of other mothers.
The program is now internationally recognised and more than 65 local children and their families have benefited since its inception.
Mrs Hill was presented with $2500 at the ceremony, courtesy of the Commonwealth Bank.