Community commitment brings accolades for Mounties

A commitment to community has seen NSW’s largest club group, Mounties Group, take out three prestigious accolades at the 2024 Clubs & Communities Awards.

The organisation, owners of Club Wyong, Halekulani Bowling Club and Breakers, was named winner in both the Heart of the Community and Emergency Services categories, while its support of First Nations school students received highly commended in the Education award category.   

Club president John Dean said the recognition from ClubsNSW was a nice nod to the focus of Mounties Group members and employees to support the wellbeing of their communities.

“In the past 12 months, Mounties Group has contributed more than $10M to the community alongside hundreds of volunteering hours from our members, delivering upon the Mounties Group mission to improve the lives of members and the communities in which they live, wherever possible,” Dean said.

Supporting local community members is action exemplified with a Clubs & Communities Heart of the Community Award win by Mounties Group Community executive manager Arely Carrion for her Domestic, Family and Sexualised Violence (DFSV) Action Plan.

Taking pioneering steps to become the first club to implement a DFSV Action Plan to proactively combat this locally critical issue, Carrion drove a working group at Mounties Group inclusive of lived experience employees who are leading the new policies, training and awareness campaign.

Having personally experienced domestic and family violence during her time working in the club industry, Carrion said she felt compelled to push for improved workplace responses.

“In Australia, 62 per cent of women experiencing domestic and family violence are in the paid workforce,” she said.

“We all have a role to play in supporting those affected, whether as an employer, co-worker, family member or friend. 

“I’m proud to work at an organisation that takes these issues so seriously.”

Support from Mounties Group extended beyond allocating more than $200,000 to towards training, awareness initiatives, volunteering programs, and support services; it actively engaged with the local DFSV sector, fostering ongoing collaboration and partnership to ensure sustained impact and outreach.

Since the inception of Carrion’s plan, all Mounties Group staff members have been trained in how to respond to concerns about domestic family and sexualised violence and are now entitled to 10 days of paid leave as part of the organisation’s new policy.

In an age where every second counts, access to immediate medical care can mean the difference between life and death, so it’s fitting that Mounties Group received a Clubs & Communities Emergency Services Award win for its naming rights sponsorship of the CareFlight Rapid Response Helicopter. 

Launched in line with Mounties Group’s pioneering healthcare service, Mounties Care, the five-year partnership deal helped support CareFlight to launch its new Airbus H145, part of the next generation of NSW’s Aeromedical Helicopters, in July 2021.

The new helicopter is one of the most advanced aeromedical helicopters in Australia and is dedicated to saving lives in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast and Blue Mountains.

“The continued support of Mounties Group over the past year has allowed us to grow our services and save even more lives using one of the fastest services of its kind in the world, the helicopter, to deliver specialist doctors, highly skilled intensive care paramedics and hospital-level equipment as close as possible to a patient anywhere in the Greater Sydney area within 15-20 minutes of a 000 call,” CareFlight’s head of Sponsorship Grants and Events Stewart Wood said.

“This year alone, the H145 has undertaken 395 missions, with 260 people being transported to hospital by helicopter or road under the supervision of a specialist doctor who provided continuous medical care throughout the journey.”

The Mounties Group also received a Highly Commended Clubs & Communities Education Award for its support of KARI Foundation’s educational initiatives that improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth.

Mounties Group helped eliminate financial barriers for families purchasing school supplies for high school while encouraging pride in Aboriginal culture by providing culturally appropriate backpacks, including a pencil case, pens and pencils, exercise books, a visual arts diary, a geometry set and a calculator.

“The $75,000 in ClubGRANTS funding to provide 500 school essentials backpacks to every Aboriginal child entering Year 7 in a public education school in South West Sydney and the Central Coast had a huge impact on the community,” KARI Foundation COO Cain Slater said.

Mounties Group has pledged an additional $75,000 for 500 more backpacks to be delivered to the CALD community, further eliminating financial barriers, promoting cultural pride and supporting academic success among the Aboriginal community.