Rotarian, John Clue, introduced our Guest Speaker, Kelly Foran from theFriendly Faces – Helping Hands Foundation to the Dinner meeting of the Rotary Club of Port Fairy held on 17th September.

The meeting was attended by local Rotarians and 15 other guests - many from the Rotary Recreational Vehicles Fellowship (Murray Goulburn zone) that were visiting Port Fairy.

ImageKelly Foran is now the CEO of, and responsible for the establishment of, the Friendly Faces - Helping Hands Foundation that helps to link rural communities to the major hospitals, health facilities and resources within cities to assist rural people to better cope with the stress and trauma of having to attend hospital in major cities.

They assist country people to source information to make a trying, traumatic time easier and give the power of information to help in a difficult time and to get control of the situation when faced with hospitalisation in a city remote from home.

Kelly, who hails from Narabri in rural NSW,  is currently visiting the South West region presenting at the 2012 “Sowing the Seeds of Farmer Health” Conference being held in Hamilton and had kindly offered to come to Port Fairy whilst on her visit to the region to tell us all about the Friendly Faces - Helping Hands Foundation.

Kelly delivered a sincere and impassioned presentation and insight into her own health battles that led to her, and her husband, David, ultimately identifying the need to provide assistance to people in rural areas who have to travel to major cities for healthcare treatment.

Apart from her own health challenges, the development and subsequent treatment of her young son’s eye cancer, was another blow to her family that only helped strengthen her resolve to do something that matters and to set up Friendly Faces – Helping Hands.

The Club and guests thanked Kelly for her moving presentation and wished her well for the development of the foundation.

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John Clue with Kelly Foran

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Kelly Foran addresses the Rotary Club of Port Fairy meeting