Mitchell Electorate Community Events

Mr WINGARD (Mitchell) (16:30): I rise today to speak about a wonderful family in my community, the Daibes family. They are a lovely group of people. There is dad Jamil, mum Nada, and two lovely daughters Keira and Mia. The young girls both go to St Martin de Porres School, and I know that the school is very proud of them. They were heavily involved in the World's Greatest Shave, raising money for the Leukaemia Foundation.

The day itself, which happens in March, raised more than $14 million. The Daibes family did a marvellous job. They set a target for themselves to raise $1,000, and with great support from the local community, their family, the school community, and all of the people who gathered around to support them, they increased it to $2,000, and in the end they raised $2,500 for the Leukaemia Foundation. It was a truly marvellous effort.

More marvellous than that I think was the way that they came about being involved. Jamil works at Bridgestone, and Bridgestone heavily supports the Leukaemia Foundation, and they had the World's Greatest Shave Day at their office. Keira heard about this and suggested that she and her sister got involved. Sadly, Nada's brother Jason (Kiera's and Mia's uncle) passed away from cancer nine years ago, and Kiera wanted to do something in support of that and to help people with leukaemia.

It was a great initiative from the girls, and they were so very proud. I was there on the day when Jamil shaved his head bald, which was a very brave effort. The girls had their ponytails cut off, and they donated them to people with cancer so that wigs could be made from them. I must say that there was a little look of trepidation on Mia's face as she lined up to get her ponytail cut off, but with the great support of her big sister, and showing a tremendous amount of courage, both girls had their ponytails cut off and donated them to others who are suffering from leukaemia to have wigs made after losing their hair during treatment.

It was wonderful to be there. I was exceptionally proud of the girls for the great effort they put in. I got some wonderful photos with great smiles on their faces when they realised what they had done. I think deep down, after they had their long locks chopped off, they both liked their trendy, shorter hairstyles. Again, I commend them for what they did. It was further proof that the families and people who live in my community are just wonderful people doing great things for our society, and I thank them.

I would also like to speak about another group. I went to the Adra Café in Melrose Park for a parents night off buffet dinner in March. Some wonderful people put this together. Kari Pettit is the project manager, and she led the way with this. There was some wonderful work in the community, supporting people and families in need. The key to their services is nourishing the soul through food for people in need.

Kari led the way, and there were plenty of others who made this event happen at the Adra Café. I would just like to name a few if I can. Simone Morrison, the Pastoral Care Officer at Edwardstown Primary School was there along with Alan from OzHarvest; Leanne from Foodbank; and Yvette, Lorna and Greg from Workskil were also there.

Ines Patritti from Patritti Wines donated some wonderful grape juice from the Petritti products (the Petritti family does a marvellous job). Clair Rhodes, President of the Edwardstown Rotary Club and Michael Tucker, the secretary, and Pastor Brenton Wilkinson were there as well. He did the welcome to all people as they arrived and also said grace before we ate. OzHarvest is heavily involved as is Foodbank, and Franco's Fruit and Vegetables and Officeworks were also supporters. Kari helped pull most of this together; and I also met her children who were absolutely outstanding and wonderful in all they did. I would like to commend this group for the work that they do, and helping people out. This Parent's Night Off, as I said, is about putting together a buffet and nourishing people through food, and helping out.

ADRA, for those who do not know, is the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and it is an official humanitarian agency of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. ADRA Australia works as part of the global ADRA network. Through this network, their reach extends to more than 120 countries. I commend them for all the work they do, especially in our local communities. Again, it is great to have such wonderful and passionate people doing such generous work, helping out those a little less fortunate, giving them a leg up and an opportunity to get ahead, and doing it through food really was a marvellous achievement. The night was a thorough success and I am sure it will be into the future.