POA: Luke goes into bat for charity

WHEN Luke Williams found out his nephew had autism, he knew he had to do something to help.

15-year-old Luke Williams has been nominated for a Pride of Australia Medal in the Young Leader category for his efforts in setting up his own charity called Lend a Hand to Hugo. Luke with his new shoe laces to raise money and awareness for his charity.

WHEN Luke Williams found out his nephew had autism, he knew he had to do something to help.

The 15-year-old set up his own charity — Lend a Hand for Hugo — and combined it with a passion for cricket.

“I love my cricket and so do my mates and we thought about how we could raise awareness,” the New Town teenager said.

“We’re always using our cricket bats so we thought we would put it on there and see how it went.”

Using a small ribbon sticker with the words “autism awareness” on bats, Luke has managed to spread awareness through the cricket community and so far has more than 200 stickers in use.

He was also able to get state players including Jordan Silk and Jake Doran on board to display the sticker during domestic matches.

Recently, Luke has arranged for special shoelaces to be worn by athletes, including Tasmanian AFL players Kade Kolodjashnij and Ben Brown.

“We’ve just about sold out of our first order,” he said. “They’ve taken off.”

Luke also plans to make a documentary for the charity to help raise awareness and money.

With the help of his mum Lindy, Luke has applied for the charity to be an incorporated business, to allow it to receive tax deductible donations.

A sticker company has also come on board to donate the stickers for the charity.

For his efforts, Luke has been nominated in the Young Leader category of the News Corp Australia 2015 Pride of Australia Medal.

“It’s not what you look for by doing it but it’s really nice to see that people are actually recognising what you’re doing,” he said.

To nominate an unsung hero, go to themercury.com.au/prideofaustralia