100 Year Old Australian Woman Helps Rural Fire Services In An Act Of Kindness

Robyn Foyster in Inspirational WomenNews On 16/01/2020, 11:37 am

It wasn’t a letter from the Queen that put a smile on Sister Mercie Whellan’s face when she turned 100 yesterday, but rather the ability to help those affected by the fires.

To celebrate her momentous day, Sister Mercie reached out to Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott to facilitate a donation of $100,000 to the Northern Beaches Rural Fire Service.

Philanthropists Marcus and Caroline Blackmore then generously matched the donation with another $100,000. The donation was given to the RFS at a lunch for her 100^th birthday this week.

More than 40 years ago, as CEO, Marcus Blackmore introduced a program where the company matched staff charity donations. Though Sister Whellan is no longer a Blackmores employee, Marcus and Caroline Blackmore made the additional donation to the Northern Beaches RFS.

Marcus Blackmore, Sister Mercie Whellan and Ken Hughes from the RFS

With all the sadness and tragedy in the world, this kernel of good news is particularly heart-warming. It’s wonderful to learn that such a big difference has been made to those less fortunate by the generosity of others including the Blackmores and this incredible woman described as “an absolute trailblazer in the natural health industry.”

After receiving the donation, Dr Ken Hughes, Northern Beaches Rural Fire Service Treasurer said, “We’ve never had a donation of this size and we’re so pleased that the money will go directly to helping our volunteer brigades, which includes buying equipment as well as further developing initiatives to help keep our community safe”.

All of this proves, you are never too old to make a difference with an act of kindness.

Sister Mercie, we wish you a specially happy birthday week from all of us here at The Carousel.

How can you help make a difference: Try making a donation to the below

Or you can support the RFS volunteers

If you choose to support the RFS volunteers, you can donate directly to them here:

Any help will be greatly appreciated we’re sure because Australians everywhere are concerned and wanting to support those affected by the fires and those working to control them.

This post was last modified on %s = human-readable time difference 12:00 pm

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Robyn Foyster: A multi award-winning journalist and editor and experienced executive, Robyn Foyster has successfully led multiple companies including her own media and tech businesses. She is the editor and owner of Women Love Tech, The Carousel and Game Changers. A passionate advocate for diversity, with a strong track record of supporting and mentoring young women, Robyn is a 2023 Women Leading Tech Champion of Change finalist, 2024 finalist for the Samsung Lizzies IT Awards and 2024 Small Business Awards finalist. A regular speaker on TV, radio and podcasts, Robyn spoke on two panels for SXSW Sydney in 2023 and Intel's 2024 Sales Conference in Vietnam and AI Summit in Australia. She has been a judge for the Telstra Business Awards for 8 years. Voted one of B&T's 30 Most Powerful Women In Media, Robyn was Publisher and Editor of Australia's three biggest flagship magazines - The Weekly, Woman's Day and New Idea and a Seven Network Executive. Her career has taken her from Sydney where she began as a copy girl at Sydney's News Ltd whilst completing a BA in Arts and Government at Sydney University, to London, LA and Auckland. After 16 years abroad, Robyn returned to Sydney as a media executive and was Editor-in-Chief of the country's biggest selling magazine, The Australian Women's Weekly.

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