Charity events run by the team at ANZ Albury Wodonga have raised $100,000 for Junction Support Services and the Albury Wodonga Cancer Centre.

All us at Junction Support Services would like to thank the local ANZ team and to ANZ ambassador Dylan Alcott for helping us to support some of the most disadvantaged people in our community.

A gold medallist Paralympian in wheelchair basketball and tennis and six-time tennis Grand Slam winner, Dylan hosted a tennis event at Wodonga Tennis Centre and was the keynote speaker at a charity auction dinner on 4 October.

A recent winner of the US Open and motivational speaker, Dylan said: I want to help young kids who are just like me, struggling to come to terms with their disability, fulfil their potential and achieve their dreams.”

Junction Support Services chairperson Sandra Dalton said she was overwhelmed by generosity of people on the night of the charity auction and all the businesses small, medium and large that donated goods and services.

“Special thanks to our ‘Friends of Junction’, Lindenwarrah at Milawa, Office Choice, in High Street, Wodonga, Delux Cutz, in Stanley Street, Wodonga, and Caltex, in Melbourne Road Wodonga, for donating prizes,” she said.

“Thanks also to Wodonga Tennis Club for hosting Dylan and children at a fundraising charity tennis event.”ANZ Regional Executive Conor Noonan said the event was another chance for the local business community to support two organisations that contribute greatly to the region’s social and economic strength.

“We’re proud to support both the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre and Junction Support Services which provide essential community services for people struggling with illness or poverty,” he said.

The funds raised are still being tallied and divided up, but – depending on the amount received – Junction plans to support people in need through:

• A Helping Hand for Young People Fund
  To cover the cost of obtaining birth certificates and second-hand furniture and white goods for young people in need
  Sandra said: “A lot of young people who come to us having grown up amid the chaos of family violence, alcohol abuse and drug use do not have simple life documentation such as birth certificates. If you don’t have a birth certificate you cannot get your driver’s license or a job.”
• A Leaving Care Counselling Fund
  To provide psychological support for young people who have been in Out of Home Care because they cannot live with their families or in foster care and need support as they transition to independent living.
  Sandra said: “The average age of young people leaving home in Australia is 20-something but young people who have been in the Out of Home Care – some of the most vulnerable young people in our community – leave when they are 18. This fund will allow us to offer much-needed additional psychological counselling.”
• A mobile counselling space
  To take our Families and Children’s workers out to support to the people who need it.
  Sandra said: “We’d like to obtain a bus and converted it into a safe space for people in need to connect with us and for us to support them. This would allow us to go to primary schools, secondary schools, community events and reach out to young people in the places that they are.”

• Dylan Alcott’s autobiography Able is due out in November. You can find out more about Dylan and his foundation at dylanalcottfoundation.com.au