South Australians making others' lives better in contention for Australian of the Year awards
A bomb survivor, a cancer charity campaigner, a man keen to reduce bowel cancer deaths and another who set up school breakfast programs for disadvantaged young children are in the running to be South Australia's nominee for Australian of the Year.
One of the nominees, Adelaide woman Gill Hicks, lost both legs and was close to death when a bomb exploded in the London underground in 2005.
She now campaigns for global peace as a motivational speaker, author and trustee for several cultural organisations.
Ms Hicks remained full of praise for those who saved her life after the bombing.
"It's the thing that I will never tire of talking of from that day, people that risked their lives; the paramedics, the police who went into a situation in that carriage, in that tunnel not knowing if there'd be a secondary device, not knowing if the tunnel would collapse," she said.
Also in the running is James Freeman, who raised more than $4.5 million for cancer research.
He lost both his parents to cancer within a year, motivating him to launch the Shitbox Rally, which has become the Cancer Council's biggest annual community fundraiser.
When it started in 2010 with 18 cars, the rally raised $104,000 and this year it saw 250 cars with more than 500 drivers sharing the duties travel more than 4,000 kilometres from Perth to Darwin and raise $1.5 million.
Another finalist, builder Ian Steel, started making sandwiches and took them to schools after he noticed some students arriving hungry and unable to focus on their learning.
He got local businesses to donate cereal, milk and bread and took it to schools which started breakfast programs, before he headed off to his daytime job.
The Kickstart for Kids program he started now has dozens of volunteers serving 25,000 breakfasts per week in more than 130 schools across Adelaide and beyond.
He said his passion was ensuring young children had the best chance to achieve their potential in life.
"We say that education is power, if we can get these kids fed, kids want to learn - three months after these programs go into schools learning abilities are up to where they should be," he said.
Another South Australian making selfless efforts to improve the lives of others is Nick Lee, whose wife Jodi died from bowel cancer in 2010.
He gave up his corporate career and set up a foundation to help boost awareness about bowel cancer, remove its stigma and highlight the importance of early detection.
Over four years, Mr Lee has raised $3.6 million to help cancer prevention efforts.
He set up a corporate bowel screening program to get organisations across Australia to promote vital health checks to their staff.
"Australia has one of the highest incidences of bowel cancer. Unfortunately there is a huge lack of awareness and that is what we are trying to change," he said.
"With a disease that is up to 90 per cent curable, you want to detect early."
Australia Day Council CEO Jeremy Lasek said the South Australian winner would be announced in mid-November and would go to the Australian of the Year Awards in Canberra on the eve of Australia Day next year.
"These great South Australians are to be admired for their achievements, many in the face of adversity and their common interest in making a difference," he said.
There are also categories for Senior South Australian of the Year - where winemaker Wolf Blass, retailer Roger Drake and musician John Swan are among the contenders - Young South Australian of the Year and Local Hero.
