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Social Responsibility

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Our community involvement

Bennett & Philp Lawyers has a long history of making valuable contributions to the community and special causes – that's because our people are caring and very generous with their time and donations. We have many examples of the support we have provided over the years. Some of our recent activities involve providing support for projects that include:

Minds Count Foundation

Multicap

Stepping Stone Clubhouse

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Further initiatives

  • Cancer Council Queensland

    Bennett & Philp Lawyers and its employees are long time supporters of Cancer Council Queensland.

    Demonstrating our strong ongoing support for the tremendous work done by the Cancer Council, every year paralegal,  co-ordinates a range of Fundraising initiatives.

    All funds raised by  volunteers are invested in Cancer Council Queensland’s research, education and support services for the benefit of all Queenslanders affected by cancer. The project, which runs from March until November each year, gives people a chance to be more closely involved with the charity rather than just a one day collection.

    Bennett & Philp’s Directors have augmented employee fundraising by donating more than $30,000 over 3 years.

    We hope our combined efforts and financial support will make a difference to patients and families affected by cancer and I would encourage other organisations to allow their staff to get behind organisations such as Cancer Council Queensland.”  Tony Bennett, Founding Director

    Bennett and Philp Lawyers have always achieved great things for us and we congratulate them for their dedicated service to our cause.” – Erin Davis – Cancer Council Queensland’s Fundraising Co-ordinator

    All funds raised by  volunteers are invested in Cancer Council Queensland’s research, education and support services for the benefit of all Queenslanders affected by cancer. The project, which runs from March until November each year, gives people a chance to be more closely involved with the charity rather than just a one day collection.

  • Red Frogs

    Red Frogs is a support program for young people from the ages of 15 – 25. Red Frogs make it their mission to provide a positive peer presence in alcohol-fuelled environments where young people gather, educate young people on safe partying behaviours, and promote and provide non-alcoholic and/or diversionary activities that engage young people in these environments.

    Director, ,  provides legal support and volunteers every year during Schoolies for Red Frogs Pancake Drive Program. In 2015 the firm, again, sponsored the Red Frog Corporate Appeal Dinner.

    We are very pleased to offer our support for the amazing work done by the relentless volunteers at Red Frogs.

  • West End Community House

    This past Christmas (2019), Bennett & Philp’s Social Club raffled off a number of hampers and goodies to colleagues and friends. The money raised from selling raffle tickets was to be donated to a charity of choice for the winner of the grand prize hamper.

    It was great to see everyone get into the festive spirit and the firm was able to raise a significant sum through raffle tickets. Our eventual grand prize winner was Commercial Lawyer, Greg Moroney, who chose to donate the raised funds to the West End Community House where his wife, Annette, volunteers.

    About WECH

    West End Community House (WECH) actively contributes to building strong, connected communities in the Kurilpa Peninsula. Established in 1983 under the auspice of the West End Uniting Church, WECH is now part of a broader organisation, Community Plus+, which includes Yeronga Community Care Centre, Annerley Community Service, and QSTARS.

  • Jeans 4 Genes

    Jeans for Genes was established in 1994 by Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) and has evolved into one of Australia’s most iconic fundraising campaigns.

    Donations from the campaign help to fund revolutionary research that helps diagnose, understand, and find cures or treatments for conditions affecting kids, including genetic diseases, cancer and epilepsy.

    Since the campaign’s conception, national fundraising efforts have achieve a number of major breakthroughs for CMRI. Some of these amazing achievements are:

    • Established an ongoing ‘vector’ engineering program that is designing new ways to cure many genetic diseases using gene therapy.
    • Discovered a cure for genetic liver disease, with clinical trials about to begin.
    • Partnered with The Children’s Hospital at Westmead on the first-ever gene therapy clinical trial in Australia, which corrected SCIDX1-deficiency (boy in the bubbly disease).
    • Found a single genetic defect can cause cleft lip and palate
    • Discovered dozens of genes causing blindness and introduced genetic testing for these and other conditions, so families can be counselled.
    • Genetic identification of previously uncharacterised types of aplastic anaemia, which now helps children and teens survive bone marrow transplant to treat the disease.
    • Discovered a new class of drugs to treat the 1 in 3 epileptics not helped by current medication (now in pre-clinical trials).
    • Launched a world-first project to revolutionise cancer diagnosis and personalise treatment planning.

     

    Firm Contributions

    Every year at Bennett & Philp, we support Jeans for Genes through fundraising efforts organised by our de facto fundraising coordinator, paralegal, Penny Mole.

    Each year, on the first Friday of August, Penny puts on a fundraising morning tea or similar event for the firm. Decked out in our favourite jeans, everyone is encouraged to participate in the day’s activities which may include a bake-off, trivia or, for a select few volunteers, selling Jeans for Genes merchandise on the streets of Brisbane CBD to help boost our donations. Penny can be found planning these activities multiple times a year as the firm celebrates Pink Ribbon Day, Daffodil Day, Red Nose Day and Bandana Day.

    In 2019, the firm recorded its highest donation collection for Jeans 4 Genes Day yet!

  • Melanoma Patients Australia

    Ten years ago, at the age of 21, a painful freckle on the back of my shoulder blade turned out to be Stage II melanoma.  Surgery was booked and I said goodbye to two lymph nodes, got the all clear and went on with my life.  Embarking on my career, having an overseas holiday, getting married and building a new home – as you can imagine, life was pretty great!Then on a romantic weekend away early last year I felt a hard lump under the left armpit.  Within a few weeks I was in surgery and this time 18 nodes were removed.  I had a drain for six weeks and after that was removed I took part in a clinical trial which entailed moving some of my ovarian tissue in the hope of harvesting this later to help us to create embryos.

    Unfortunately during that surgery they discovered one of my ovaries was black.  A scan revealed that the melanoma had spread not only to my ovaries but also to my pancreas and kidney.  I was now Stage IV.  I was also introduced to MPA at that time and I immediately experienced an amazing level of support from people who could understand exactly what I was going through.

    Haylay Polga

    Over the next four months this support became my lifeline, through both genuine and heartfelt counselling as well as chatting with others going through similar experiences.  We traded war stories, laughed and cried but above all else my melanoma buddies just got it.

    Because I’m BRAF positive I’ve been put on targeted therapy that wasn’t even available a few years ago.  Thanks to research and MPA’s continued advocacy and commitment to lobbying the PBS, I’ve been able to have this treatment meaning my tumours have shrunk by 50%.  I’m still alive and I still have further options.”

    I often think this isn’t fair on my hubby, who didn’t sign up to be my driver, nurse and hot water bottle.  But he has followed through on his for better or worse vows and never ever complains.  My family, my friends and my small country town community; all of their support has just been overwhelming.

    But not everyone is as lucky as I am to have this support and many melanoma patients feel isolated due to their geographical and health constraints.

     

    This is where you can help.

    Melanoma Patients Australia (MPA) would like to create a series of videos and booklets which will include stories just like mine.  These stories will share ideas on how to cope and move forward with a melanoma diagnosis.  We’ll be discussing the down days, the things that help get you through, the general experience of different treatments as well as hearing from other families and friends to offer their insights.

    By making a  you’ll be helping patients just like me realise that we are not alone in this battle.  My favourite saying is by the famous Jamaican musician Bob Marley (who died of melanoma in 1981), “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice”.  Personally I like to add brave into the mix too…

    So be someone strong and brave and .

    All donations will go towards the Melanoma & Me series of videos where you’ll be acknowledged (with your permission) as one of the supporters of this initiative.  So can I count on you to be part of this amazing MPA support network for patients just like me?

    Together we’ve got this!

    Yours,


    Hayley Polga

    PS. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.  Make sure you donate by 30th June to be able to claim for this financial year.

     

     


    Individual liability limited by a scheme approved under professional standards legislation (personal injury work exempted).

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