Moonee Valley citizen of the Year credits the support given to him as a child for developing his own community-oriented approach to life.

When Mr Cameron was just three he was stricken with infantile paralysis, a condition now better known as polio.

“It took 11 years for me to become a normal person again and that’s only because so many people helped me,” he said.

“It has never been a matter of becoming someone who helps others.

“It was born into me through my family. It was a philosophy I was surrounded by from my earliest years.”

Mr Cameron’s breadth of community involvement has spanned many years and many causes.

Some of his more notable achievements have been to help build a school and community hall in an isolated community in the Northern Territory, 650km east of Katherine, and to invigorate Victoria’s TAFE system so students in the automotive field had access to state-of-the-art equipment.

For the past 25 years Mr Cameron has also been involved with the Moonee Valley Foundation, an organisation that raises funds to help young adults.

“Rather than fund-raising to plant a tree or put up another monument, the foundation fosters youth.

“We aim to help young adults achieve optimum success in whatever field they choose.”

Mr Cameron described being named on Friday night Moonee Valley’s finest citizen “a great privilege”.

“I really accept this on behalf of all the people that have helped me.

“We never achieve anything by ourselves. We always have a team behind us.”

(Source: Moonee Valley Weekly)