By Nick Creely
It was a significant day for the Pakenham Football and Netball Club on Saturday, with the Lions hosting a special fundraiser in support of the Amy Gillett Foundation and the Rich family.
The organisation was established in 2006 and was born out of tragedy when Amy Gillett, a champion Australian cyclist was killed while training in Germany with a squad of cyclists.
Amy’s husband Simon then established the foundation with a number of others, with a vision of eliminating cycling related fatalities.
Pakenham members Charlene Rich, and her brother Brandon, put together a special fundraising day in honour of their father Ken – a local police Sergeant – who was tragically struck and killed in a cycling accident on Good Friday last year, and have since been passionate about spreading the road safety message for cyclists.
With raffles, competitions, prizes, massages, face painting, Victoria Police cars and plenty more, a monster crowd turned up to show their support and donate to the foundation, with Lions netball president Marg Jones blown away by how the day unfolded.
“(I’m) so incredibly proud as a club that we could support the Rich family with this event, in loving memory of their Dad, Ken,” she said.
“(We are) privileged to be involved at Pakenham with the amazing people we have as players, families, coaches, life members, sponsors and supporters who showed incredible generosity.
“On behalf of the club, our heartfelt thanks to everyone that attended and contributed.”
Upstairs in the social rooms, the club put on a special afternoon tea, with guest speakers from the Foundation and by Victoria Police sharing the message about road safety.
Amy Gillett Foundation director Matt Dimattina was “humbled” to have been a part of the day, and said the club and its dedication to the fundraiser left him almost speechless.
“I was stunned to see the size of the crowd – Charlene, who has been front of centre and had a lot to do with the organisation of the day, conducted herself admirably, so I was really humbled to be there to be honest,” he said.
“I said it during my speech and I meant it, the courage is extraordinary of the entire Rich clan, in the face of such personal tragedy, to stand up and take a positive and ensure no one else has to suffer the same things.”
Dimattina said that behind the scenes the Foundation is working hard to implement new laws, and hopes they can continue to make a difference.
“We develop and implement programs to ensure cyclist safety, and our vision is to eliminate cycling related fatalities,” he said.
“We do it in a number of ways – the focus is on research and developing programs that will be effective, and we communicate that with both cyclists and motorists on what they can do.
“One of our biggest programs is the ‘a metre matters’ program, where we work with governments all across Australia to implement minimum overtaking distance legislation, and in doing so, raising awareness.
“The metre matters campaign was established in 2009, and we knew it would take some time to implement and for governments to make the change.
“We’ve had great success right across the country, and in the legislation is now in place in every state but Victoria, and we’re working hard on that.”
To find out more about the Amy Gillett Foundation or to donate, head to http://www.amygillett.org.au/ or find them on Facebook.
