Our people

Title Our people

Our staff and volunteers have been working alongside the Queensland Police Service for 73 years, meeting local youth and community needs.

This year we celebrate and congratulate more than 108 staff and volunteers across the organisation who received their 20-year Diamond Life and 10-year Life Memberships!

This wonderful achievement illustrates the amazing loyalty shown to our organisation and purpose, and highlights the enormous depth of knowledge and experience our people possess across all areas of the business.

Ep’s story

Retired submariner Ep Lammers, 86, has spent more than 10 years in the passenger seat as a PCYC Braking the Cycle volunteer mentor, teaching young people how to drive and thrive.

This year Mr Lammers was a finalist in the Queensland Volunteering Awards 2021 for Volunteer of the Year.

1,568

employees

2,818

volunteers

130,055

volunteering hours

$5.5 million

volunteering net worth

I take people as they come and I like to help them. They want help, I’m here. I’ll lend my ear and we have a joke.

With Braking the Cycle, we’re not taking any credit away from the driving schools, but the students wouldn’t have any money to pay for what we do for them.

The parents have no vehicle or family to support them and we fill a void, a very valuable one.

What’s discussed in the car — it stays in there and they open up.

I love volunteering and helping young people to succeed. There’s no end to my involvement with this wonderful program. When I fall over, it will be the end.

I am flattered by the compliments from my grateful students and colleagues and vow that I won’t be hanging up my car keys any time soon!

General Manager Indigenous Programs celebrates her 21-year anniversary

Having begun her journey with PCYC Queensland in March 2000, this year marks our General Manager Indigenous Programs, Andy Cassidy’s, 21st anniversary! Leading from the front, seeing passion and commitment from her team and making the impossible possible across the remote communities of Queensland are driving forces that have shaped her career.

I have embraced my progression within

PCYC Queensland, starting as a Youth Development Worker in Central Queensland, and transferring to the same position in North Queensland to raise my then-young family. I was afforded the opportunity to help establish PCYC Palm Island, which led to me lobbying for a standalone Indigenous role within PCYC Queensland, to bring a dedicated platform to the Indigenous PCYC Queensland clubs in Mornington Island, Palm Island and Yarrabah at that time.

I seized the opportunity to embrace the North Queensland Zone Development Manager role for 2.5 years prior to establishing my current General Manager Indigenous Programs portfolio in 2013, which required me to move my family and life from Townsville to Brisbane. I liken this move to being a country mouse learning how to become a city mouse!

I have experienced so many highlights over my 20-year career with this organisation. Mostly, the amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside and whom I have come to regard as my PCYC family, and the communities I have connected with and advocated for to effect positive change. My PCYC Queensland experience has been a genuine adventure that has taken me to places where most people wouldn’t have the opportunity to venture; bringing some joy into the lives of young people and their families in some very challenging locations has been incredibly rewarding.

My “ah-ha” moment is seeing the smile that erupts on a young person’s face and hearing the giggles of delight as you see the fruits of your team’s efforts resulting in the provision of a program or resource, or an event you’ve made possible in communities where many other services are not available.

I am profoundly proud that PCYC Queensland continues to make the ‘impossible possible’ for many communities where others would not venture, due to the challenging nature of these remote locations. PCYC Queensland brings a platform of possibilities to communities which are usually limited, and I feel very blessed to belong to a company that has supported my passion and career pathway coming together; allowing me to work across many metro, regional and remote communities to bring them a unique participation experience.

Being part of PCYC Queensland’s evolution in its commitment to working with and being responsive to the Queensland communities we work alongside has been wonderfully gratifying. I feel excited for our organisation’s ability to continue working with regional and remote locations to grow these communities to deliver a platform that seeks to reduce the gap in accessible social, emotional well-being programs and services for young people and their families often experienced due to isolation of their community.