February 2019
Here we are in the start of another year and I trust you all had an enjoyable Christmas / New Year break catching up with family and friends, and maybe even had time for some quiet reflection of the year gone by. No doubt 2019 will bring its own unique challenges and good times.
We are already in February and we have had our first children’s camp at Broken Bay, where it was impossible not to have a good time, with perfect weather, clear fresh water to swim in, and plenty of activities to keep everyone busy. Can I thank all the volunteers who gave up their time to ensure the Police Legatees had a great time on the camp.
Coming up on the weekend of 22 February we are hosting our first 18 to 25 weekend away. This will be a great opportunity for our young adult Police Legatees to catch up at Cockatoo Island and to reminisce about the many camps they enjoyed growing up and the great friendships they developed. We are looking at making this an annual event, giving our young adult Police Legatees an opportunity to catch up and stay connected.
The 25th of January was our Chief Operating Officer Elizabeth Svoboda’s last day with NSW Police Legacy. Elizabeth will be sadly missed as she was the leader of our team and it will be a very difficult task to find another person who has so much empathy, compassion and dedication. Elizabeth has been integral over the last five years in growing NSW Police Legacy to be the leading charity supporting the police family. Over this time she has worked tirelessly to ensure the charity meets the needs of our beneficiaries. We wish Elizabeth all the best in her new challenges knowing she will succeed in all her future endeavours. Don’t forget Elizabeth, you will always be welcomed by the Police Legacy Family. Over the next couple of months we will be searching for a new Chief Operating Officer, knowing it will be hard to find anyone close to the standard Elizabeth set.
By now our Police Legatees who are doing the 2019 Kokoda Trek in April are well into their training and preparation. And we can announce that this year Commissioner Michael Fuller will join us on the trek – the first time a Police Commissioner has joined us on this symbolic journey. We are deeply honoured to have him walking with us, and it will further strengthen the bonds of our police family as our Police Legatees have the opportunity to personally share their stories with him.
Gary Merryweather, Chair
