Cathy & Bill Coppinger
“Lisnaebrin”
Clonbinane/Broadford, Victoria 3658
Printed in the Kilmore Free Press - Feb 5th 2010
It is twelve months after the fires that began on February 7th 2009 and not a day goes by when we are not reminded of the impact those events had on our lives and of those around us.
Whilst we are not yet settled and still unsure exactly where we will make our home, we would like to take this opportunity to offer our heartfelt and sincere thanks to the many family & friends and Broadford, Clonbinane and Kilmore community members who assisted us in the days, weeks and months since the fires. To say we were overwhelmed by the support provided to us and particularly our children, would be an understatement. It is impossible to put in to words how we feel about the support and kindness we have received. We only feel now [12 Months on] that we have some idea of the size and extent of the support we have received.
There have in fact been so many people [100‘s] that have helped in so many ways, that it is impossible for us to thank everyone individually, even if we were able to identify you all.
We do wish to publicly and sincerely thank the following people for their immediate and ongoing assistance:
We send our heartfelt thanks to Anne & Gerry Vallence, Anne & Mick Hibberd, Trish & Dave Bulluss and Mark Denton and Ian Parry, all of whom assisted in our immediate shelter, clothing and accommodation needs after the fires, assisting greatly in the time we needed to recover, both physically and emotionally.
We will not forget this.
To Andrew & Libby, Bruce & Nikki and Frank & Lisa, Mark & Melanie, we thank you for being with us and supporting us.
To Jim, Jo and all the Staff of Broadford Secondary College, we thank you for the assistance you gave Cathy in her workplace and to Andrew, Gerard, Chris and the Board of the Central Ranges LLEN for their support of Bill.
To Tony, Anne, Lori, Tara, Kirsty and all the wonderful staff at Broadford Primary School, we thank you for the support and care afforded to our children, Grace and Patrick.
We also wish to recognise some of the many individuals and organisations within the community [that we are aware of] who have helped or are still helping us. To the Clonbinane and Broadford CFA members, we continue to marvel at the work you did in support of communities and households across the region. Thank you.
To the Mitchell Majors Baseball Club [Phil and George] and the Broadford Basketball Club, particularly the Zanko family, we thank-you.
To Judy Fulton, Mick McMahon, Mrs Knight, the CWA, Sabrina, Jodie Hopper, Janelle Page & Paul Cowan and John Patterson, thanks for your kind and generous support.
To Lisa & Chris, Jacqueline & Peter, Leah & Jason, thanks for making us feel so welcome.
We would finally like to thank all those people in our community who have assisted us, some anonymously. The support has been genuinely overwhelming.
We have been in the Broadford district for almost 25 years and it never ceases to amaze us at the level of generosity and kind spirit that the community can extend to those in need.
Thank-you
Sincerely yours,
Bill, Cathy, Grace and Patrick Coppinger
February 7th 2010