City clubs helping out their country cousins

Representatives from some of Sydney’s largest clubs piled into the Orange ExServices’ Club courtesy bus on Thursday, July 20, and paid a visit to colleagues in communities impacted by the devastating floods late last year.

Back in February, Orange Ex-Services’ Club hosted an industry luncheon that brought in over $200,000 for flood victims in Eugowra, Cudal, Molong and their community clubs.

Last Thursday, some of the major donors from this event — which included representatives from Mounties Group, Ryde-

Eastwood Leagues, Campbelltown Catholic Club and Manly Leagues – travelled out to speak with local clubs and community members, hearing first-hand about the impact of the floods and to brainstorm initiatives to make best use of the money raised.

“The great thing about clubs is it is quite a close-knit community,” Manly Leagues CEO Julien Bova said in Orange on Thursday.

“And where there’s clubs or just communities in general out there that are a ected by natural disasters or anything… It is great that clubs tend to come together and do what we can to support the community whether it’s raising money, or volunteering our time ourselves or leveraging some of our contacts or suppliers.

“I’m personally quite proud to work in clubs, just to see the kind of things that we can do to help communities and people in need.”

Campbelltown Catholic Club CEO Michael Lavorato admitted that he hadn’t ever heard of Cudal prior to the flood appeal, but said there was no hesitation from his club’s board or members to help colleagues and communities in need.

“Irrespective of whether you’re in the regions or in the city when the call came out for support we had no hesitation in jumping in and supporting the clubs out here that were doing it tough,” Mr Lavorato said.

“The story is universal throughout the club community, whether you are a big club like ours with 50,000 members or a club in a town with a thousand population, it really is a unique community and we help our own.

“Helping clubs, helping communities is what we are all about.”

Beckie Plant always loved children’s books and revelled in the imaginative worlds of authors such as Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl. She’d always dreamed of writing her own one day, but it was only when her children had left the nest and a global pandemic forced everyone at home that Beckie finally followed her dream.

“I’ve just always loved children’s books – I just think they open up a whole new world,” Beckie said, recalling warm memories of evenings at home reading to her own children.

“I’d always sit there with my children and say one day I’d write a book. I’d sit there and make up stories in my head, but never put any down on paper,” Beckie said. But then along came a global pandemic, and with Beckie’s children now all grown up, she had no more excuses to stop her from putting pen to paper.

“When COVID came along, I just sat there