Sunshine Coast Council At a special ceremony attended by more than 250 dignitaries, nominees and their guests, Cheryl Harris, a strong advocate for volunteering and volunteers, was today (January 22) named 2021 Sunshine Coast Citizen of the Year. As the Volunteering Sunshine Coast CEO, Cheryl has been an outstanding advocate for volunteers over the last 10 years. Under her stewardship, volunteering has grown significantly on the Sunshine Coast through collaboration with local government, business and strong community partnerships. Today there are around 64,000 volunteers supporting the Sunshine Coast community in widely diverse fields. Cheryl’s work has encompassed assisting people who were seeking paid employment to participate in volunteer work with a view to keeping skills updated and building self-esteem through the Pathways to Employment program, coordinating volunteers during a disaster event and referring potential new volunteers to not-for-profit organisations across all sectors of the community.