Rosa Kosta accepted the Torch-Bearer Award of behalf of Fusion Australia.

FUSION AUSTRALIA’S COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION 

Community radio:  95.7 HeartFM Community Radio Station is located in Poatina but provides access to people across the region to hear their own voices and develop a sense of community.

Schools work:  Lunchtime programs and a range of schools work is provided locally at Cressy District High School and across Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Jamaica, Ghana, Nigeria.

Fusion established the first Youth “Drop in” Centre and Youth Cafés in Sydney, beginning in the mid 1960 and now operating in cities across Australia as well as locally in Campbell Town, Cressy and Poatina. 

'Breakfast Clubs' providing breakfast for children in schools in every state – children who otherwise go to school hungry and who need the social connection that it brings.

Community building, family friendly festivals were developed in conjunction with the rural agricultural shows in Tasmania in the 1960s, but have since been taken up widely as Open Crowd Festivals.  Hundreds were run in 2000, in association with Torch Run and the Olympic Opening Night Ceremony, and following invitations they were provided in Greece at the Olympics in 2004; in Jamaica at World Cup Cricket and in Germany at the time of the World Cup Soccer. They were a significant part of the Arafura Games in Darwin in 2007.

Fusion builders have provided a water tank for Yendi in Northern Ghana, where previously woman travelled distances to obtain it.  It currently provides the sole water supply for the village, because of drought.

Education in Poatina Village – Trinity College, is North Midlands only K – Year 12 School.

The Training Team also offer Certificate IV, Diploma and Advanced Diploma in youth and community workers in the context of a community in which young people are taking important next steps in their lives.  Vocational Education and Training is available in a range of areas including Child Care, Aged Care, Hospitality.Within the village young people at risk are cared for in a very effective universal casework model.

Development of an Arts Colony in Tasmania to provide a place in which artists can come and practice, developing their skills in an environment that assist their development.  Associated with this is an annual Summer School of the Arts in January and Artists Retreat in July.Crisis and medium to long-term accommodation for homeless people is provided in Melbourne, Mornington, Brisbane, Perth, Geraldton and the Barossa Valley.   

Schools in Harmony programs including an annual Pilgrimage to Uluru which takes hundreds of young people on a journey to the centre of Australia: a journey which is profound in their understanding of our indigenous heritage and transforming in its impact on their relationships.

In 2000, School children from across the nation were invited to Homebush Stadium for a major youth gathering prior to the Olympic Games. 

Overseas opportunities for young people are providing opportunities for them to develop in skill, leadership and co-operation and including participation in a soccer tournament in a school in Seelow, East Germany, close to the Polish border – an area of poverty and low morale.