A Canberra wombat rescuer could be crowned the nation's kindest person for the care and advocacy work she does with the native Australian animal.
Yolandi Vermaak is one of three state finalists across NSW/ACT in women's retailer Black Pepper's annual World Kindness Day Search. She was selected from hundreds of nominations across the country.
The initiative recognises and shares the stories of everyday Australians making a difference through kindness.
She is in the running to be named the state winner, with the public invited to vote in-store or online until Wednesday 8 October. State winners will receive a $500 donation to their chosen charity, among other things.
If she progresses to the national stage, where the winner will be announced on 13 November, she could win $5,000 to donate to the charity of their choice, which she would put back into her own cause, Wombat Rescue.
The not-for-profit focuses solely on the conservation, treatment, rehabilitation, education and awareness of the bare-nosed wombat.
"We don't get any government support unless we apply for grants, which is a little separate because it's a lot of work and it's a one-off thing," Yolandi told CD.
"But, other than the odd grant here and there, we rely on donations.
Yolandi said the organisation's biggest expense is treating mange -- a parasitic skin disease caused by mites -- which costs either $40 or $250 per wombat, depending on the treatment used.
"We averaged 50 a month (wombats); one month we did 73 wombats," she said.
"Apart from the population treatment, where we treat 200 burrows, we treated 73 individual wombats in one month, which is a significant cost increase for us, so that's $88 times 73 ($6,424).
"So, it's a lot and every cent we get is so much appreciated because it's so needed."
She takes care of the wombats full-time with the assistance of 40 active volunteers.
"They (the volunteers) are worth their weight in gold," Yolandi said.
She is, however, the only wombat carer at the organisation, while also squeezing in working part-time.
Yolandi said she was appreciative of whoever nominated her.
"Because they believe in what we do. And obviously saw something that resonates with them, so I really appreciate that," she said.
"But in terms of getting the message out, it's always really crucial because there's a lot happening in the wildlife world and it's not a change we can do on a small scale.
"There's big change federally needed, urgently. And the more people understand the plight of animals and wildlife and specifically wombats, the better."
Yolandi said people were surprised when she told them of the predicament of the northern hairy-nosed wombat.
"They still don't know what happened and how quickly it takes one event to push a species from common to extinct.
"To give you an idea, back in the day, decades ago, northern hairy-nosed wombats were prolific.
"So, their range was as large as the bare-nosed (common wombat). These guys [the wombats she is currently taking care of] were all the way from Queensland through to New South Wales."
"Back then, there was this perception that those particular species of wombat were overabundant, so farmers shot them.
"We know anecdotally of one farmer in Queensland who shot more than one thousand hairy-nosed wombats.
"They just kept shooting them, they were offered money for their pelts, they were classified as pests, all those sorts of things and in the 80s, there was 35 left.
"People don't know that. Only then did the government say 'Oopsies, maybe we should stop shooting them.'"
Yolandi said things had now changed with about 400 in reserves that were predator-proof fenced by volunteers and rangers.
She said one of the biggest threats to the wombats was habitat loss.
"...We're clearing habitat faster than something like one football field every two minutes," Yolandi said.
To vote for her in the state awards, visit blackpepper.com.au/pages/world-kindness-day-nominations
More locally, Yolandi is also nominated for a Lifeline Canberra Spirit of Canberra Awards in the Spirit of Impact category.