Living Treasure
From his work in charity Peter Jabbour believes in a simple metaphor. If you have a sandwich and you give a portion to the hungry, it will not fill their stomach, but it will at least help them. This belief has influenced his entire working life.
Peter arrived in Australia in 1976 from the Middle East. He married the following year and has three children and two grandchildren. Early on the family had a hard time. Later, Peter earned a driving instructor’s license and established his school in the early 1980s. He helped many new migrants with language and financial difficulties, often offering free driving tuition.
Peter joined associations to meet people and build relationships and was on the committee of the Migrant Resource Centre for several years. In 1995 he was a founder of the Australian Arab Multicultural Association – a non-political, non-religious pro-Australian group advocating Middle Eastern migrants and helping families to settle successfully.
His most enduring association however, rewarded with a Certificate of Appreciation for his services to the parish, has been with the St Peter and Paul Melkite Catholic Church. Peter began his family business in Dandenong North selling household products and electronics, in 1990. He is a man who is comfortable with sharing and giving and donates a portion of each order to charity.
His family regularly makes large donations to charities such as the Royal Children’s Hospital, World Vision, Children First Foundation Peter and his wife have also made generous donations to many individuals.
Peter uses an analogy to explain why he is happy to help and give so much. ‘If you have two blankets and only use one and leave the other in the cupboard, why not give it to someone?’ He has brought his children up, and run his business, guided by this ethos.
Peter was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia in 2013