Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Thursday, 23 May I had the pleasure of attending two Biggest Morning Teas, where dedicated members of the local community in the electorate of Casey raised money for the Cancer Council. The first was at Arrabri Community House, in Bayswater North, where Jackie Warren and the team from the house worked very hard selling tickets as well as cookbooks from the centre. The guests there included David Watt, the senior manager of the Mount Evelyn Community Bank; Councillor Tony Dibb; and former councillor and mayor Peter Gurr.

Later in the morning I attended the Biggest Morning Tea in Mount Evelyn, which has grown steadily in the last two years. They raised a little over $4,000. That takes their total fundraising for the Cancer Council to a little over $10,000 over the past three years. They not only raised lots of money on the day; they also did so by holding two sausage sizzles on the Saturdays leading up to the morning tea on Thursday. I want to pay tribute to the fundraising team at Mount Evelyn: Kathie Freeman from the Mount Evelyn Chamber of Commerce; Meaghan Hicks and Garrick Hicks from the Functional Beverage Co and Yarra Valley Tea Company; Leanne Vaytauer, the branch manager at the Mount Evelyn Community Bank; and Glen Booth and hospitality students from Ranges Tech, who baked over 400 scones and came along on the day to serve Devonshire teas.

There were many local businesses who not only supported the morning teas on the day but donated many prizes for the raffle. There are too many to list but I would like to say once again in this House what a great job they do for their local community. This was another sign of the strong community spirit in Mount Evelyn. I pay tribute to the organisers and everyone who was involved at both morning teas in Bayswater North and Mount Evelyn.