After losing her brother to suicide in 2007, Ngaree Ah Kit encountered a big community of survivors dealing with great loss and decided to bring them together. In 2010 she helped to establish the Darwin Region Indigenous Suicide Prevention Network to reduce the rate of suicide amongst Indigenous people – which is up to 30 times the national average - and to provide meaningful support to bereaved families. In her paid employment with the Northern Territory Department of Health, Ngaree helps to deliver on the government’s suicide prevention strategies.

A member of the National Lived Experience Network Leadership Group for Suicide Prevention Australia, Ngaree is not afraid to tackle other big issues, such as ice addiction and the Intervention. An active member of the organising committee for Darwin's NAIDOC Week, Ngaree works tirelessly to instil pride in her community and to encourage others to play their part in improving their own lives and those of their friends, family and community.

When she moved to Tennant Creek with her family, Kellie McKinlay-Hughes was shocked to find a town with a shortage of foster carers and decided to do something about it. Together with her partner Matthew and daughter Bronwynn, Kellie welcomed her first foster child, a baby, into her home. A teenage girl soon followed. Kellie uses all her skills to provide her children with a stable, supportive home. She works hard to bridge the divide between Aboriginal culture and the broader community to ensure her foster daughters remain connected to their heritage. Kellie’s passion for her community doesn’t stop with her foster care. She has established the Tennant Creek Craft Club for young people, assists the local playgroup and is an active member of the Tennant Creek Country Women's Association (CWA). Whether baking and sewing for the CWA or caring for her foster children, Kellie is a role model who enriches her community and the lives of others.

After arriving in Alice Springs more than two decades ago to work as an audiologist, Joanna Nixon’s life and career took an unexpected turn. When Aunty Adi Dunlop turned up at Jo’s house with 100 beanies she had made with the Indigenous ladies at Yuendumu, the pair decided to host a party to sell the beanies and make some money for the remote community. One of Australia’s most quirky cultural events, the Alice Springs Beanie Festival, was born. Since then, Jo’s skills in grant writing, marketing, workshop delivery, accounting and volunteer coordination have built the festival into one with more than 7,000 beanies, 9,000 visitors and $170,000 in turnover each year. The extravaganza attracts entries from as far away as Germany, Japan and the United States. While continuing her role as audiologist at the Alice Springs Hospital, Jo directs the Beanie Festival each year and with her committed band of ‘beanie-ologists’, brings the community together and promotes Aboriginal women’s textiles.

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For the past six years, David Taylor has provided 200 meals a day for Darwin’s homeless people. David runs the St Vincent de Paul Society's Knockabout Chefs program, training and mentoring homeless and at-risk people, refugees and those with learning difficulties, in commercial cookery. Some participants go on to work in commercial kitchens, while others learn valuable life skills, improve their English or build their self-esteem. With patience, love and care, David builds up people who are experiencing extreme hardship and disadvantage, and changes their lives, one at a time. While he’s a passionate ‘foodie’, David also devotes much time to Tracks Dance, a local dance organisation committed to developing people from diverse backgrounds. A committee member since 1999, David volunteers on stage as a performer, in wardrobe and prop production, or front-of-house management to support Dance Tracks in celebrating the stories, truths and diverse heritage of people in theNorthern Territory.