A few months short of my 8th birthday my father Bruce, passed away suddenly, leaving my mother with 5 children under 16 to raise and care for.
The only way forward for my mother was to return to the work force to try and make ends meet. My brother, sisters and I then had a whole new load of responsibilities around the house to evenly distribute the chores, sometimes this worked well, other times not so well.
One of the biggest hurdles for my Mother apart from the usual things with a lively brood of children was what to do with us all during school holidays as she still had to work.
As my Father was a returned serviceman we had been approached by Legacy with an offer to assist our family in times of need. At the time I didn’t think a great deal about it, however now, as an adult, I realise what a huge burden these fabulous people relieved my Mother of.
Every school holidays all of us were packed up from our home in Sydney, and taken on a ‘Farm Stay’ holiday where country families provided everything for us for a 2 week stay.
Tamworth, Wagga Wagga, Griffith are just a few of the places I stayed, on a sheep farm, a piggery and a battery hen farm!!!
My sisters and I attended “Physical Culture’ every Thursday night at the Legacy Hall in Parramatta and at the end of the night before we were allowed to leave they would play “The Last Post’ – I would always think of my Father and how different my life would have been if he was still around.
In the early – mid 80’s my sister was living in Perth and she had an accident on her motor bike and knocked out 2 of her front teeth, she was about 24-25, Legacy paid for her to have crowns placed on the affected teeth. We would also attend Christmas Parties and Easter Egg hunts and go on Harbour Cruises around Sydney Harbour. All voluntarily run and at no cost to my Mum.
When I think about all the things that Legacy did for just my family I am amazed by what a strong and amazing organisation they are.
This is one charitable organization that I ALWAYS support as I personally have experienced their generosity and sense of comradeship.
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