Support for students
I WOULD like to publicly thank all the organisations and individuals who assisted my daughter Elissa in raising money and awareness of cancer and other childhood illness.
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On September 20, Elissa shaved and donated her hair to Hair with Heart and raised money for Variety, The Children’s Charity.
Two students from Stawell Secondary College especially helped Elissa.
Brone Cuffe cut her hair for Hair with Heart and Nick Bendall auctioned off his moustache for Variety, The Children’s Charity.
Aaron Dalziel from the college helped arrange the event and did a great job as auctioneer, with Eleisha Clementson and Donna Simpson handling the scissors with style.
The Northern Grampians Mayor, Tony Driscoll, provided support, as did Chantal Thomas from the shire.
Attention from the Weekly Advertiser, Stawell Times-News and Dave Lennon from ABC Horsham did much to help raise awareness for the causes.
It was heartwarming to see parents, past teachers and members of the community come to Stawell Secondary College to support our young adults as they showed the school’s values – respect, excellence and community.
Thank you to the generous community of Stawell for your donations.
If you wish to donate, please visit www.hairwithheart.everydayhero.com/au/help-elissa-share-her-hair-1
Michelle Jess, Glenorchy
Fundraiser helps families
WE ARE writing to thank the Ararat Advertiser, Stawell Times-News and the local community for their support of McHappy Day in 2018 – the largest annual fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Your communities helped us celebrate 27 years of McHappy Day and raised more than $4.8 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities nationally.
These donations ensure that Aussie families get to stay together while their seriously ill or injured child undergoes treatment.
Throughout the country we saw communities help raise vital funds for Ronald McDonald House Charities. We saw local Bucket Brigades, Scout groups, emergency services as well as sporting and TV personalities visiting McDonald’s restaurants, to help make a difference.
We want to personally say a big thank you to everyone in the community, who got involved, making generous donations that helped McHappy Day raise more money than ever before.
Fundraising efforts like McHappy Day are vital and ensure Ronald McDonald House Charities can be there for families with seriously ill children when they need it most.
With so many Aussie kids requiring treatment, every donation goes a long way to keep families together in their toughest times. You can continue to support families in need by donating to rmhc.org.au all year round.
Thank you again for all your help on McHappy Day.
Barbara Ryan, chief executive, Ronald McDonald House
Responsible gun ownership
THERE has been considerable comment recently on firearm ownership – comment that is based on ignorance of the facts and on emotion.
The long-established current affairs program, Four Corners weighed in with suggestions that the Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia (SIFA) wanted to water down gun laws in this country.
Let me categorically state, as I have done many times before, SIFA does not and never has sought a relaxation of gun laws in Australia.
We have put forward suggested technical improvements to make firearms laws easier to understand and enforce, not water them down.
Criticism has also extended to SIFA being involved in public campaigns against political parties on wide ranging issues, not directly linked to the firearms industry.
Currently, in Victoria, SIFA is backing the campaign Not. Happy. Dan – a campaign that highlights bread and butter issues affecting all Victorians. These include high energy prices, the availability of good public transport (particularly in country areas) access to public reserves and the level of crime in this state.
SIFA has been criticised for not sticking to firearms issues in its public comment but with around a million licenced firearm owners in this country, we felt that the issues that affect these people, in fact all Australians should be highlighted, and the deficiencies of the state government pointed out.
We are not targeting a political party – in fact SIFA backed a campaign during the last state election in Queensland, criticising both the Labor Government and Coalition Opposition on wide ranging issues affecting Queenslanders.
Sadly, there has also been attempts to link the ownership of firearms in this country to domestic violence while statistics show that cases where firearms are used in domestic disputes is falling. SIFA has a strong record against any form of domestic violence and violent behaviour but will always support the rights of farmers to own firearms and for licenced and responsible shooters to take part in chosen recreational activities.
Obviously, many in the inner cities just don’t get the fact that the over one million licenced and responsible firearms owners in this country, many in regional and rural areas, are just that, licenced and responsible.
Opponents on gun ownership will fail with their ill-informed and biased rhetoric targeted to appeal to the latte set of our capital cities.
Rod Drew, executive officer, Shooting Industry Foundation of Australia