Michel Kroll believes helping others is fundamental to happiness. He loves fostering a sense of community and positivity in Sunbury. He talks with Serena Seyfort.
What’s your connection to Sunbury?
I’ve lived in Sunbury for just over a year now. I’m originally from Berlin, Germany. I moved here because my wife is from Sunbury.
How are you involved in your community?
In my neighbourhood I try to help. When I have time, usually when I’m looking after my son on Saturdays and Sundays, I post on the Sunbury Region Community Facebook page and see if I can help anyone. Once I posted to give some spare bread away. I got so many responses, I ended up going to the bakery and delivering bread to seven families. I got a lot of messages on Facebook of people saying “I would love some bread, I’m just out of hospital” or “my husband’s away and I don’t have the car”.
We’ve also got a lemon tree. I made a post so that people can just come by and grab lemons. It was really cool – I met a couple of other Germans through that. And I got a lot of yummy stuff that people made with those lemons. I was even given a free pizza from the pizzeria when they grabbed some lemons.
It’s a good way to meet people.
I’m a music producer and a musician … I’ve had a suggestion to go the elderly home and play there, which I plan to do this Sunday. My son and I will just go over and make some music. I play guitar and I sing.
Why do you spend your spare time offering to help others?
I think sometimes we are a bit stuck up in our own life. But the key to happiness is helping others. That’s what makes me happy. And I think when we focus on other people’s lives and how we can make our community stronger, then we will end up much stronger and more positive.
Initially, I started it because online there is a lot of negative news, like “this person drove too fast”, “this person scratched my car” … I think we need to focus more on the positive news. Those things will always happen, but if we focus on those bad things, we will attract more bad things. I’m actually going to open a positive news page on Facebook where people can only post positive news.
Do you have a favourite place in Sunbury?
The adventure playground in Jacksons Hill. I go there a lot with my son.
What do you like about the area?
I like that it’s close to the city but it still has this little town charm.
The people are lovely in Sunbury. I love that people still talk to each other and say hello even though they don’t know each other.
And everything is walking distance away from what you need. I love that we still have small shops. It’s a good place to live.
If you could change anything about the area, what would it be?
I’d add some more community activity, some more music. I would like to see more bands, and more local bands, and events where people can just play their music and listen to music.
