Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Forde community have been very busy over the past couple of months, doing what they can to help support each other, and it is with great pride that I have the opportunity to share some of those local stories from my electorate with my parliamentary colleagues tonight.

In the past eight years, Lighthouse Calvary Care has grown from one small store in Eagleby to three stores and a warehouse in Loganholme. As well as helping struggling families with $20 food trolleys, the Logan-based charity now has a shopfront selling low-cost groceries to help families make ends meet. Last week I had the opportunity to attend and sponsor a fundraiser held by the Bendigo Bank's Logan Community Bank to help raise funds for Lighthouse Calvary Care. It is great to live in a community that looks out for one another, with these wonderful organisations. My thanks also go to the many local businesses that constantly these community organisations.

Beenleigh Cane Festival was held again this year. The 49th festival was another wonderful example of the community spirit in and around Beenleigh. The weather was perfect for this year's annual Cane Festival Parade, with thousands of people turning out for the day and some 70 floats taking part in the parade. I would like to congratulate the Rotary Club's Cane Festival Committee Chairman, John Fennell, along with the committee members, community organisations, volunteers and businesses for making this event such a great success this year, and we are looking forward to the celebration of the 50th Cane Festival next year. During its 49-year history there has been a cane quest, which over that time has raised some $500,000 for the local community. This year there were nine entrants: Melina Evans, Lauren Paterson, Kayla Eley, Mikaela Falcone, Jason Howitt, Emily Ponton, Sharni Willmann, Tess Haseler and Lyndon Captain. This year's overall winner and the 2012 Cane Quest Ambassador was Jason Howitt, who has set a first for being the first male to win this competition. I would like to also commend the efforts of Sharni Willmann for her fundraising efforts. She raised $17,884 and received the title of Cane Quest Charity Queen. In total the nine entrants raised over $65,126 for local charities. My thanks also go to the cane quest committee of Vicki Lorisch, Anje Piepier, Rhonda Dore, Katie Johnson and Alisha and June Collard.

Our businesses also continue to give to the community. Recently a sale was held at one of our local Harvey Norman stores, with proceeds going to the Logan Hospital. An event I enjoy each year is the Junior Quota of Beenleigh. They hold a Big Box Sleep-Out to raise funds for the local homeless community. I had the pleasure of going along and cooking dinner on the barbecue for them and taking part in some of the other activities. The aim of the event was to raise awareness of homelessness, and all funds are donated back to the community. I am very proud of their efforts each and every year, and they have another sleep-out coming up in October for Halloween.

Another group in our community that does tremendous work to raise funds for charity is the Shailerettes dance team from Shailer Park State School. Recently they performed in a dance competition to raise money for disadvantaged children so that those kids are able to participate in school events. In conclusion, I am privileged to represent the Forde electorate. It is fast becoming a great place to live and work because of the community spirit that is there in our community. It is a privilege to share some of those stories about the great things the community is doing in the electorate.

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