Kicking goals with supporters - Celebrating Whitelion and footy.
Oct 05, 2017
Melbourne
The 17th Annual AFL Finals Series Luncheon was held in Melbourne on 7 September in the MCG Members Dining Hall. Over 450 supporters were treated to a great lunch and AFL discussion by our panellists Billy Brownless, Matthew Lloyd, Katherine Smith and Brent Harvey, led by MC Tony Shaw.
Representatives from 33 companies attended, including Asahi Beverages, OPTUS, Grant Thornton, PICAC, City West Water, Crown Coaches and Prima Careers. The impressive turnout led to $60,000 being raised, including $35,000 on the day through raffle tickets, football sales and live and silent auctions. We are extremely grateful for everyone’s generosity and the enthusiasm that all participants showed in getting involved.
The attendees also had the pleasure to hear Whitelion young people Stacey and Julian discuss their experiences with Whitelion and how they have turned their lives around. They are now part of the Whitelion Younglions Advocacy & Ambassadors Program and making a difference in other young people’s lives.
To encourage the corporate supporters to consider employing a young person, Blake, a Whitelion young person, talked about how his life has changed as a result of being employed by KFC.
Fruit2Work, one of Whitelion’s social enterprises, was showcased to demonstrate how Whitelion is moving towards sustainable outcomes for young people. One Fruit2Work employee took the chance to tell his story of how work has given him the motivation to make the most out of his life.
Overall, it was a fantastic event and one that has become an annual favourite for many of Whitelion’s Melbourne corporate supporters. We would like to thank our major sponsors for this event: OPTUS, GJK Facility Services and 3Dynamics. We would also like to thank our major supporters: the AFL, the Lancemore Group, Asahi Beverages, Lion, Lexus Travel and The Good Guys as well as all who came to the event.
Sydney
The Inaugural Whitelion Sydney Footy Lunch was held on Friday 1 September at Canterbury League Club in partnership with our wonderful friends from Schweppes and Asahi Premium Beverages. The event brought together supporters from Whitelion and across the Schweppes/Asahi supply chain to celebrate Whitelion’s community work over a relaxed lunch. The event was MC’d by popular sports broadcaster Bill Woods, who graciously donated his time.
The attendees heard an inspiring talk by Jilly Field (Ashurst Lawyers), Ambassador and advocate for Whitelion, who discussed her experiences working as a lawyer for young people in the juvenile justice system. She spoke about the ongoing need for support, empathy and advocacy for some of the most vulnerable young people in our community.
A panel consisting of Whitelion Ambassador Michael Talia (Sydney Swans), Zak Jones (Sydney Swans) and Terry Lamb (Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby League legend) also discussed the upcoming finals series, including the importance of great teamwork and a good playing culture – in football and in life!
The day concluded with an auction and raffle which helped raise much needed funds for Whitelion’s programs in NSW: over $12,000 in total. This would not have been achievable without the wonderful support from our friends at Schweppes and Asahi. We would like to acknowledge the following people in particular for their hard work: Ros Cluning, Fred Jones, Tania Montesin, James Nock, Wayne Pilling, Jack Ribeiro, Natasha Rosieur, Neil Telley and Yavi Torres.
Whitelion would also like to thank the team at the Canterbury League Club, who granted us a venue for the function.
We look forward to this partnership and event growing every year. We are definitely looking forward to holding our second Annual Footy Lunch next year!