Presidents Report

Hello Members

Since our annual general meeting we have jumped straight into action.

Kristie and I meet with our funding body Queensland Health just under a month ago. This was a great opportunity for them to meet with us to we could give them a personal update on what we had successfully achieved over the past year and what some of our vision was moving into the coming year. I am happy to say they were very impressed and delighted with what we told them.

We had John Sedunary from TCFV and TCFA assist us over a two-day period to start the draft of our strategic plan for 2019 -2022. It was a productive two days in which we were able to identify what is working, what we can build on and what we can introduce to maintain and further TCFQ. As stated, this is still in draft stage, but we have started to work or will be starting to work on some of these even though we are still at this stage, as these areas are important for us to address. They a small but significant part of our plan.

We also had our first meeting regarding the review of our constitution which I believe has gone very well and over the coming few months I am confident that we will be well and truly on our way to finalising this within the first half of the new year. It is great to see the passion of what we stand for implemented in these meetings, as they forge towards maintaining and developing a strong and secure TCFQ. We have Bill, Roger and Peter with me overseeing this.

In moving forward, we are reaching out to our current chapters to seek their feedback and will be trying to make visits to give opportunities for face to face meetings and to meet our members in who we are making decisions for. The executive board feel that this opportunity is important for all parties so that when making choices we can keep connected to our core force.

We are reviewing the administration role and our volunteer program so we can better our community awareness and further our community presence so we reach further parents, siblings and grandparents who may need our services. This will be an ongoing process over the next month and I am hopeful we will have this finalised by the years end so that we can reach out to obtain further volunteers.

With our Candle lighting service around the corner we are already gaining a response to our raffle tickets and for our tributes to our loved ones. I have already met with Sue regarding our seminar which looks to be one of the biggest yet to be held and I will be meeting with those who do the walk to remember in the coming month as this will approach fast and we need to address any gaps of assistance required. I have asked all parties to start giving me an in-depth outline of what is required in terms of hosting and running these events. The rationale behind this is we will need to start creating a precise budgeting tool, skills identification list so we can access volunteers to assist with these areas and to help with our strategic planning tool. Also, to meet our legislative requirements such as risk assessment protocols.

Our volunteers have been working tirelessly to assist with cross checking our current membership so that we can move into an up to date data base which will hold relevant information on our members but will also allow for us to seek out collaboration and networking opportunities in all areas, which will assist with making TCFQ more noticeable in our communities across the state. Our goal is to be found by those who need us so we can assist them in their grief.

Due to much activity to making our foundation stronger so we can build TCFQ,  I must take this opportunity to thank everyone who is working tirelessly in making this happen. I am very grateful for the work been done and for the support at the pace in which it is been done while maintaining all other commitments we have existing.

Simply thank you.

Trish Schafer
Mother of Eric and Maree