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I am very excited about the prospects for this position , by the challenge of doing something new , building new relationships and becoming actively involved in the community .
I have a real passion for building Interrelate ’ s profile in our local community and I am very grateful for the opportunity to really focus on bringing this to life .
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- Melissa Medway , Interrelate volunteer
Our year was encapsulated well when , in late May , we held our Regional Team Meeting in Bourke with almost the whole team in attendance to share their highlights and hopes for the coming year . We were joined by our CEO Patricia Occelli , Head of Operations Suella Wright and Ann Pitkeathly from People Culture and Performance . Logistically , getting the whole team to Bourke was a daunting task which involved organising a bus , connecting with planes for our Sydney visitors , finding enough accommodation and a room to hold our meeting .
The Orange team travelled a total of 1100 kilometres and had two very long days . We know that this is what our Far West staff do all the time and really appreciated the opportunity to have a glimpse of the lives and work of our Far West staff .
We were humbled by the opportunity to undertake cultural training led by local Barkindji man , Bruce Turnbull , which was also challenging and hope filled . In return for the training Bruce asked that we donate some plants to the garden he is growing with local Aboriginal students .
Katrina returning to donate plants to Bruce ’ s garden
Sadly , this year we bid farewell to our drought service as the Government funding was not renewed , despite the drought being ongoing , the outcomes form the work being exceptionally good and a great campaign to mobilise public support where Interrelate obtained almost 25,000 signatures in a change . org petition delivered to the Deputy Prime Minister . We will continue to try and sustain some of the work in this region via our other services . Thank you to Kate Mudford , Maureen Reagan , Martina Adler and Lucinda Morrish for their dedication to this work .
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