THE FINAL MO’DOWN!
Monday 07 Dec 2020
As Movember wraps up for another year, the team at WAPOU would like to say to all prison officers and staff; you are all bloody legends!
More than 23,000 prison officers from across Australasia joined in on the Movember initiative, set up by the WA Prison Officers’ Union on behalf of the Prison Officers’ Association of Australasia (POAA).
The project involved prison officers from every jurisdiction across Australia and New Zealand to raise money and awareness to combat cancer related illnesses and poor mental health.
The clear winner from this year’s Movember was camaraderie! It was excellent to see so many get involved and support each other for an important cause.
This event helps to remind us all of the pressures we face in such a unique workplace, and how those demands can affect us in different ways.
We are proud to announce the Prison Officers’ Association of Australasia managed to raise more than $46,000.
A special mention to the top five jurisdictions.
- New Zealand $26,000
- Western Australia $9,000
- Tasmania $5,800
- Queensland $2,700
- Victoria $2,300
Our Top five individuals from WAPOU.
- Dave Shilton $920
- Brad Wall $720
- Greg Holder $590
- Adrian Louw $515
- Andrew Anderson $408
A shout out to members from across the country that got involved in all the Movember activities, such as the annual poker run or staff barbeques at Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison, Hakea, Melaleuca, Wooroloo, Casuarina and of course those staff at Bunbury who braved the heavy rain to raise awareness of this great cause.
Raising $9,000 is no small feat, but the main success of this last month was raising awareness of mental health issues in our workplace and in particular the Stand T.A.L.R (Talk, Ask, Listen, Refer) program and the support that is available to all staff in prisons. We are already talking with staff at our regional prisons to bring these activities ‘out wide’ so that everyone gets the opportunity to get involved next year.
It’s not only the men getting involved in Movember, a ‘Mo Sista’ from New Zealand raised the most of any individual. Congratulations Char who pulled together more than $2,000 with support from the Christchurch prisons.
The biggest single prison event raised $1800 at Waikeria Prison in NZ, at a gate collection and staff sausage sizzle. The team said the key to its success was having the prison director on board working closely with the team captain.
It was great to see New Zealand corrections management also get on board, their head office team raised just under $13,000 with several prison managers and regional commissioners growing Mo’s in support of this great cause. This also shows the commitment to staff wellness from corrections management in New Zealand.
The surprise team was Tasmania, who showed big things can come in small packages. They were the smallest group in the POAA and raised just under $6,000.
Congratulations to all, the final numbers are far more than we hoped for this year thanks to the incredible work from everyone that participated and donated.
The goal for next year is $46,000, so let’s start putting our thinking caps on and get working on ideas for next years fundraising.
And remember to always Stand T.A.L.R (Talk, Ask, Listen, Refer).