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I am very excited about the prospects for this position, by the challenge of doing something new, building new relationships and becoming actively involved in the community.
I have a real passion for building Interrelate’ s profile in our local community and I am very grateful for the opportunity to really focus on bringing this to life.
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- Melissa Medway, Interrelate volunteer
Our year was encapsulated well when, in late May, we held our Regional Team Meeting in Bourke with almost the whole team in attendance to share their highlights and hopes for the coming year. We were joined by our CEO Patricia Occelli, Head of Operations Suella Wright and Ann Pitkeathly from People Culture and Performance. Logistically, getting the whole team to Bourke was a daunting task which involved organising a bus, connecting with planes for our Sydney visitors, finding enough accommodation and a room to hold our meeting.
The Orange team travelled a total of 1100 kilometres and had two very long days. We know that this is what our Far West staff do all the time and really appreciated the opportunity to have a glimpse of the lives and work of our Far West staff.
We were humbled by the opportunity to undertake cultural training led by local Barkindji man, Bruce Turnbull, which was also challenging and hope filled. In return for the training Bruce asked that we donate some plants to the garden he is growing with local Aboriginal students.
Katrina returning to donate plants to Bruce’ s garden
Sadly, this year we bid farewell to our drought service as the Government funding was not renewed, despite the drought being ongoing, the outcomes form the work being exceptionally good and a great campaign to mobilise public support where Interrelate obtained almost 25,000 signatures in a change. org petition delivered to the Deputy Prime Minister. We will continue to try and sustain some of the work in this region via our other services. Thank you to Kate Mudford, Maureen Reagan, Martina Adler and Lucinda Morrish for their dedication to this work.
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