International Women\’s Day – We Rise By Lifting Others
Our story is one of women helping women. What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day 2021 than to pay tribute to some of the women who have carried AWW on their shoulders?
Recently we celebrated just some of the amazing women in our AWW NSW community.
We began the week with a tribute to our founder Jessie Vasey. Jessie passionately represented the needs of women affected by war and changed the course of history. Her vision of women helping women is just as important today as it was 75 years ago. Thank you to Jessie Vasey and all those who have followed.
We also celebrated some long standing and contemporary AWW NSW members and Board Directors.
Bree Till lost her husband JT during the Afghanistan war. With two children already, and one on the way, Bree faced huge uncertainty, but despite her struggles has gone on to do truly inspirational things today. Bree is now an advocate for war widows everywhere and has campaigned to end the stigma surrounding the mental health of veterans and veterans’ families. She also acts as a Community and Peer Advisor for Open Arms, who provide counselling for veterans and their families. In these ways, Bree channels her energies into helping those who suffered a similar experience to her own.
At 95 years of age, Ruby Riley has been a AWW NSW member for the last 34 years and was one of our longest serving volunteers. Ruby recently celebrated 20 years as Club Coordinator for the War Widows in Taree.
Queen Dunbar understands the challenges many women face today and is putting her efforts back into empowering our community. Queen reaches out to other women affected by more recent conflicts, so they too can be surrounded by the support of our organisation. Queen has been a member for the last 3 years and is a recent addition to our Board. Wasting no time, Queen has already devoted a significant amount of her time giving back to her community representing us at the National Remembrance Day National Ceremony last year. Queen is a passionate advocate for women connected to Defence service and their children. We are grateful to have women like Queen with us on our journey toward a new future for Australian War Widows NSW.
Outside our organisation, Tricia Hobson is one of Australia’s top litigation lawyers at the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, where she served as the firm’s first female Global Chairman in 2018. Tricia completed her term with strong and decisive leadership that was admired by so many. Tricia is passionate about diversity and inclusion, and works tirelessly to fight discrimination so people from all kinds of backgrounds have the capacity to do amazing things, like her. We are privileged to have someone like Tricia on our board helping us build our future.
We also thank Meg Green for the amazing work she has done as both a member and President of Australian War Widows. Meg has an incredible history of helping others. As a practicing nurse for most of her life, Meg joined the War Widows following the death of her husband in 2008. Her mother Paulette had also been a member of the Guild since 1985 and encouraged her to join. With endless passion, drive and enthusiasm, Meg has gone on to hold many roles within the Australian War Widows, including Club Coordinator, Member Director and State and National President. Meg has given a huge amount back to our community, and in recognition of her work she was awarded an AM in the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours List.
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