Veteran’s charity ball Legacy’s gala dinner to raise money for $1.75m welfare house

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| Isaac Colman

FORMER Governor-General and army chief Sir Peter Cosgrove heads the lineup for the first Far North Queensland Legacy ball in September.

The ball will help raise money for a $1.75 million welfare house and mark 100 years of the veteran’s charity.

Sir Peter will be a guest speaker at the ball on Saturday, September 2.

Far North Queensland Legacy chief executive officer Rebecca Milliner said Legacy personnel and beneficiaries and children as well as Defence personnel had worked extremely hard to officially launch ticket sales at the HMAS Cairns navy base.

“While this will be our first year hosting a gala event for FNQ Legacy, we aim to hold the event annually and raise awareness of Legacy and continue to celebrate the great work that our staff, Legatees and dedicated volunteers do in the community,” she said.

“This event will give the locals the opportunity to join with us, hear our stories and honour our veterans’ memories with their fami- lies.

“Our goal this year is to raise $1.75m to establish a Legacy House in Cairns as a base for support and service delivery for our beneficiaries to service from Cardwell in the south to the Cape in the north. A multi-service hub that can be a place where the whole community can come together.

“We will continue to grow our footprint in FNQ as more and more Defence personnel and their families continue to call this community home.”

Legacy beneficiary and project officer Melanie Allen said if it wasn’t for Legacy “I honestly don’t know where my family and I would be. Becoming a widow with three young children when my husband died was extremely traumatic and life changing for us as a family.

“The Legatee network stepped in and supported us from day one. And that is why my children and I are so happy to help the organisation wherever we can.

“The work they do is phenomenal in people’s darkest hours.

“They really are unsung heroes in our eyes.” Buy tickets at www.fnqlegacy.org.au