An 80-year-old woman has become the first Indian to be honoured with the Shilling Wall Tribute award by the multicultural commission of the Australian state of Victoria for her outstanding contribution to the community through her “tele-cooking” services and an association helping senior citizens.

krishna Arora’s name was engraved on Queen Victoria’s Women Centre (QVWC) Wall and she was awarded a Shilling Wall Tribute certificate by the multicultural commission at a ceremony in Melbourne on Sunday.

Giving away the award, Multicultural Commissioner Madhu Bhatia said it was a great honour and pleasure to see an Indian lady’s name engraved in QVWC shilling wall.

Arora, who heads the senior citizen association club, has served the community at various levels, including providing help to old people who are facing domestic issues in melbourne.

Having a cookery and hospitality background, Arora also offers telephonic cooking service.

“I help people by offering various services and I also run tele-cooking services as many are away from their families and don’t know cooking,” she said.

She thanked Victorian government for the award and recognition of her work, as also the Indian federation which gave her the platform to serve the community.

“It has been a long journey for me. I feel honoured to be a part of the Shilling Wall,” said Arora, who has taught in the Institute of Hotel Management, Pusa, in New Delhi for several years and written a cookery text book for the Catering Institutes in India.

Arora has also opened the Asian Memorial Institute of Hotel Management and Catering in Chennai.

She came to Australia in 1992 to join her family and has been very active in the community. She has been the Food Editor of ‘Indian Voice’, a monthly newspaper since 1993, and is passionate about helping the community, particularly providing help to senior citizens.

She is also a co-founder of the Indian Senior Citizens Association.