Guests rubbed shoulders with local luminaries including Dame Marie Bashir, David Field, Sam Neill, Rachel Ward and Ken Sutcliffe at the Celebrate the West event held recently at the WatervieW in Bicentennial Park.
San Miguel Family Centre Manager Jennifer Wood said the event was an opportunity to highlight the success of local heroes by naming them Champions of the West while raising funds for the homeless centre.
“Athletics superstar Jana Pittman, acclaimed artist Ben Quilty, NRL legend Nathan Hindmarsh, media personality Kyly Clarke, politician David Borger and sports administrator Lyall Gorman were honoured this year,” she said.
“The event gave us a chance to celebrate the achievements of some really spectacular individuals and hear their inspiring stories.
“It was also a great opportunity to help those less fortunate, with proceeds of the event going to the San Miguel Family Centre and we are overjoyed with the result.”
For more than 30 years, San Miguel Family Centre in North Richmond has been providing short term accommodation to families who are in crisis and experiencing homelessness.
San Miguel’s caring staff provides more than temporary, emergency accommodation, they offer support, counselling and guidance to help families tackle the issues creating homelessness.
Parents receive support to improve life skills such as budgeting, cooking and communication and children receive support from child development workers to enter the local schools and return to education.
Event Patron Bryan Brown acted as Master of Ceremonies and The Voice’s Darren Percival provided entertainment.
“This year was a real success and special thanks must go to the members of the fundraising committee Sid Kelly, Kathryn Carmody, Luba Charlton and Sascha Charlton as well as event patrons Bishop Kevin Manning, The Hon. John Brown and Phil Gould,” said Ms Woods.
San Miguel Family Centre is a service of BoysTown.
