August 2019
The last couple of months have gone in a flash with so many events happening in support of Police Legacy. In June I travelled to Bathurst with Richard from our office to support an outstanding officer who committed to walking 24 laps of the Mount Panorama Race track in 24 hours to raise awareness and funds for Police Legacy. Richard did two laps and I did one with Senior Constable Philip Mounce-Stephens, and we were exhausted. Philip did the 24 laps in just over 25 hours, with a total distance of 151km, an outstanding effort.
The next day all staff were at our Annual Family Day at Government House. We were very fortunate to have the Governor Her Excellency Margaret Beazley and her husband Dennis meet many of our legatees. Her Excellency was extremely warm, and even took our young legatees on a special tour. We are very pleased that Her Excellency has taken on the role as the Patron of NSW Police Legacy. We were also fortunate to have our Police Minister Mr David Elliot, The Parliamentary Secretary for Police Mark Taylor, the Commissioner Mr Michael Fuller, and their families in attendance, and all went out of their way to listen to our legatees’ stories.
In June I had the privilege to go to a Nursing Home in the Eastern Suburbs with the local Commander Superintendent John Duncan to wish one of our more mature Legatees, Esme Green, a Happy 101 Birthday. As soon as Esme recognised the police uniform she had the biggest smile on her face, as she still cherishes being part of the police family.
In July we hosted our second family grief weekend in Bundanoon. We were able to fund this weekend from the Commissioner’s Kokoda Trek fundraising, and once again the weekend was very valuable in helping Police Legacy families to move forward on their own personal journey of grief. Also in July was our Kids’ Camp at Nelson Bay – another great opportunity for our young legatees to come together as a group, building their friendships and support networks.
In the office we held a strategic planning day with our new board of Directors, and one thing that really stood out was that all of the Directors want to continue to build NSW Police Legacy so we can continue to grow the services and support we offer. I am also very proud to say that our regular payroll contributions continue to grow, as I travel around talking to many police about the great work we do at Police Legacy.
In closing I hope to see many of our legatees and supporters at the Blue Ribbon Ball in September, which I know will be another great night. The team here in the office have some great ideas to make the night special and are working hard connecting with our corporate partners.
