By Michael Doran
A defibrillator that had already been used to save a young life was stolen from the clubrooms of Wesburn Junior Football Club in September. The theft left the club’s120 juniors unprotected until the stolen unit was replaced.
That was until the Yarra Junction Community Op-Shop found out about it and donated the $3,000 needed for a new one. “They needed a new one and that’s what we do, we help everyone we can,” said Margaret Coles from the Op-Shop.
“It’s important they got a new machine after the other one was stolen and it’s something we have done for other clubs so we helped them,” she said.
Club Secretary, Bernadette Meerkotter said that finding the money for a replacement was going to be a tough job for a stand-alone junior club.
“We lost our major sponsor this year and the only income we have is from the canteen and registrations and we need that to run the club,” she said. “It would have been really difficult to raise the money without raising fees for the players.”
In accepting the cheque, club President Wayne Gribbrock said that having a de-fib machine was a vital part of looking after the juniors.
“It is a massive credit to the Yarra Junction Op-Shop. For a little club like ours raising that kind of money in such a short time would be almost impossible.”
“Having a defibrillator at the ready is now a standard part of running a sporting club and so replacing the stolen unit was top priority for the club,” he said.
Clubs such as Wesburn Junior Football Club survive on the efforts of volunteers and the hot dogs they sell each week in the canteen. For thieves to put the lives of so many children in their own community at risk is heartless, to say the least.
If anyone has any information on this theft please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
