Jill DeCianni (L) with Matt Cowdrey MP, Member for Colton and Tuesday Udell, Walking SA Chair. As a Walk Organiser for the Brilliant Support Walking Group, with Heart Foundation Walking, Jill won a Special Recognition Award – Individual.
Abundance of heart – Jill goes above and beyond her duties as a Heart Foundation Walk Organiser for the Brilliant Support Walking Group. The group meets on Mondays and Wednesdays every week, and loops around the newly re-developed Thorndon Park Reserve in Rostrevor, in association with Campbelltown City Council. There are currently 88 walkers, and numbers are continuing to grow because of Jill’s warm and welcoming nature. She established the group back in 2009, and has since empowered others to get more involved in the Walking Program by becoming Walk Organisers, assisting her with the administration, and encouraging new walks to form with different days/times. She also consistently advocates to the Council to promote physical activity in the community; most recently was the installation of outdoor exercise equipment along the Thorndon Park walking trail. Jill said that this has given new life to the park, and additional motivation to her walkers, who she now finds warming up on the equipment when she arrives to lead the walks!
Jill is passionate about the social outcomes and the benefits that the Heart Foundation Walking Program brings to the lives of others, particularly with regards to companionship, and this is one of the main reasons she continues to walk.
