Nanette Sharp OAM

Nanette Sharp OAM has dedicated her life to serving others, living by the ethos that while we are different, we all need to feel that somebody cares. 

Through her volunteering and work with Pet Therapy dogs, Mrs Sharp has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the community of southern Adelaide. 

“I always keep in mind that there is always someone worse off than you are!” she says. 

“With all of the various volunteering activities over the decades, I now consider myself a chauffeur taking the real comforters – the wonderful (Pet Therapy) dogs – to Aged Care, Hospitals and Rehabilitation Facilities, and often in coffee shops,” she says. 

“It can give those isolated and lonely residents the knowledge that they are loved and wanted, and the sun will rise again tomorrow.”

Mrs Sharp was a volunteer at Allambi Aged Care Home, and is former president of Friends of Allambi. 

She has also volunteered for Trees for Life, as a primary school teacher aid and at the Mother’s Support Group at the Paediatric Department of the Flinders Medical Centre. 

After moving past her initial scepticism that news of her Medal of the Order of Australia wasn’t legitimate, Mrs Sharp says she was moved to tears.

“I have always felt blessed for what I can do, and now blessed for what I have done,” she says. 

“Over many decades my community involvement has been along a wide variety of paths, which required various life skills, but always behind me I have known my family and loved ones are there to support, to encourage and to share my joys, my tears, my funny stories, and the ultimate satisfaction of a job well done.”