Veterans' Aid Top Citizen For Shellharbour

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday January 26, 2008

By MICHELLE WEBSTER

PETER ELLIS

PETER Ellis will be formally introduced as Shellharbour's Citizen of the Year at the city's Australia Day celebrations at Reddall Reserve today.

The father of two received the award at a formal dinner on Tuesday and said he was honoured to accept the title.

"I was tickled pink, I was giggling inside," he said.

"My family are quite proud of course."

A tireless community worker, Mr Ellis devotes much of his time to the Illawarra Veterans Entitlement Service, an organisation dedicated to assisting veterans to access pensions and other benefits.

Secretary and pension officer with the Albion Park RSL sub-branch, Mr Ellis said the expanding service provider continued to deliver vital assistance to the region's veterans.

"Last year we started a communication phone line where veterans could call directly, and there were over 600 calls in the year," he said.

"Only 40 per cent of veterans in the Illawarra belong to an organisation so many people don't really know they are entitled to a pension.

"We've been going about seven years now and in that time we've had over 700 clients."

At first operating solely from their Wollongong office, the Illawarra Veterans Entitlement Service has expanded to a number of locations across the region.

"As a lot of the veterans were getting older they were having trouble getting to us," he said.

Thrilled to have been selected, Mr Ellis insists that his colleagues also deserve recognition for the assistance they give to the region's veterans.

"It has been a lot of work by many people and a lot of committees," he said. "There really have been a lot who have helped."

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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