Heywire winner proud to call Mackay home

FEBRUARY 3, 2013: IT was a pleasure to catch up with the busy and talented Claire Kelly at Parliament House today when she attended the ABC Heywire Regional Youth Summit.17-year-old Ms Kelly was the Mackay winner of the Heywire competition, which provides an opportunity for young people in rural and regional communities to share their stories.Claire was also recently named the Mackay Young Citizen of the Year.Claire loves to volunteer and visited Fiji last year to work in an orphanage for two weeks.To get there she had to fundraise, and her Heywire story talks about the generosity of the Mackay community despite the fact that the people of this city have been hit hard by the downturn in mining.Claire is proud to call Mackay home, and I know that the people of Mackay are equally proud of young people like Claire, who want to get out there and make a difference in the lives of others.Ms Kelly will spend the rest of the week in Canberra with other Heywire winners from around the country.Go to www.abc.net.au/heywire/winners/ to find out more about the competition.