Catholic community leader Sam Hardjono has been awarded the Red Cross’ highest honour, an honorary lifetime membership, for his decades of service to the organisation.
Hardjono previously served as the inaugural general congregational manager for the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephites, and was until recently the chair of the Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) NSW board, along with other senior roles.
Dedicating over 20 years of service to the Red Cross across various positions, he helped steer the organisation through critical roles such as chair of the NSW board from 2015 to 2020.
Hardjono said his Catholic faith is his “guiding compass” and he had been working with the Red Cross mainly in volunteer roles for decades.
“You do these things not to expect any award or anything, you do it because you believe in the cause and everything else,” he said.
After learning about opportunities with the Red Cross in The Catholic Weekly, Hardjono applied and became an advisory board member with the NSW Red Cross board.
Eventually rising through the ranks to chair of the board, Hardjono was awarded the distinguished service medal for his work during the 2019 Black Summer bushfires.
“From a governance point of view, it was about ensuring the staff were motivated, and our volunteers, communicating with our other volunteers or our members that were helping or being in different parts of New South Wales during the time,” he said.
He praised the “incredible tenacity of the staff members and volunteers” as well as ordinary Australians who banded together to help one another during the crisis.
He also praised his strong Catholic education, which began when he went to an Ursuline kindergarten and continued on through his years at Waverly College in Bondi Junction.
“It was that formation of faith during that period of time, little did I know something was entrenched in me regarding the community and regarding helping others,” he said.
Hardjono’s adept skills at management are not localised to the Red Cross as the Josephites issued a statement reflecting on his time at their helm.
“He brought his energy, insight and passion to this task and committed himself to supporting the mission and vision of the sisters,” it read.
“He has always been supportive of the not-for-profit sector within the community, showing his heart for mission and using his skills and experience for the common good.”
EREA also offered its congratulations.
“Sam has guided the Board through a period of significant consolidation and development across the EREA NSW Colleges, contributing to the establishment of the new entity, faith formation, and the strategic direction of our schools within New South Wales,” an EREA statement read.