By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A CROWD of over 100 people gathered at the finish line to celebrate the completion of Casey Mayor Amanda Stapleton’s two-week Walk for Disability.
The Mayor was overwhelmed to see such a large crowd gathered to greet her at the gates of Blairlogie Living and Learning in Cranbourne South, her final destination.
The unwavering support Cr Stapledon received at Blairlogie was the same she had witnessed throughout the entire walk.
“The overwhelming thing is the community response, it’s been amazing. It’s something I’d like to see carried on every year,” Cr Stapledon said.
“I think it should be a mayoral thing and certainly if the mayor’s unavailable then someone else.
“It needs to be city-wide and if you can keep the issues that are facing people with a disability and their carers foremost in people’s minds we’re going to see the greatest change.”
CEO of Waverly Industries in Hallam Frank Cresta, who joined Amanda for every day of the walk, said the initiative had opened his eyes to the generosity of the Casey community.
“Waverly industries has only been in the city for four years so to understand what the community is about, to meet so many wonderful, committed and dedicated people and leaders has been fantastic,” he said.
“It’s been a privilege and it’s a great initiative by Amanda and it has alerted the community of what’s required in the future.”
Even though she has time to put her feet up now with the walk completed, Cr Stapledon doesn’t plan to do anything of the sort. She said it was vital to keep circulating the importance of disability awareness.
“I will be writing to everyone that we visited and I will be telling them just how successful this walk was, what the outcomes were and what we hope to do in the future to continue the focus on people with disability and their carers,” she said.
For more on the Mayor’s Walk for Disability, see pages 4 and 5.
