Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was my honour to join the Caboolture Seventh-day Adventist Church last Saturday when they honoured two local organisations for their service to the Longman community—for the third year running. The first recipient this year was the Caboolture Neighbourhood Centre, who work with a range of people in our community. One of their key programs is assisting people, particularly women, assimilate into Australian culture, including with practical courses on basic mechanics, such as how to change a tyre, as many of these women have come from countries where women aren't even allowed to drive. Now, thankfully, they have this freedom that we take for granted. The centre also provides food hampers; runs family fun days that are free for the community; runs counselling services, such as financial resilience, basic computing skills, nutritional budget cooking, and anger control and behavioural change courses for adults. They also provide services such as filling out forms, and migration and visa advice. Well done to Malcolm, Marilyn and the entire team.

The second recipient was Eat 4 The Streets, which was founded by Michael Cox—or Mick, as we know him. They simply set up every Saturday at Centenary Lakes in Caboolture and make burgers, not only for the homeless but for families who are struggling and for whom not having to pay for one meal could be the difference between paying this week's rent or mortgage repayment. They have a no-judgement policy, so they don't ask people's financial situation; they just provide food and a place to connect.

Mick has also developed an app and website which people can use to see where other groups in the Longman community provide food during the week. Mick proudly stated that by using this resource there is now at least one organisation providing a meal seven days a week somewhere in our community, with the days, times and locations all provided on the Eats 4 The Streets website.

The other outstanding attribute of Eats 4 The Streets is that, to date, they have been completely funded by the generosity of the local community, particularly the congregation at Emerge Church in Morayfield. Thank you to Pastor Casey Wolverton for inviting me to celebrate these two wonderful organisations.

I'd also like to farewell the principal of Woodford P-10 State School, Ronnie Hill, and thank her for the two decades of service to the school and the Woodford community. Ever since I met Ronnie, she has been advocating for Woodford State School to have grades 11 and 12 brought to the school so that parents and students don't have the disruption of making the move to another school such as Kilcoy or Tullawong at a very important time in their education. Ironically, the LNP promised they would deliver this if elected. So Ronnie won't actually enjoy the fruits of her advocacy personally, but I know for Ronnie it was always about the students, not personal accolades. Well done, Ronnie, and we thank you.

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