‘Second home’: AFL Cape York House Foundation aims to kick fundraising goals

Elizabeth Kepa’s blue water dreams of joining the Navy started when she moved to Cairns. Now, the AFL Cape York House student is hoping to help other young First Nations men and women achieve their goals.

The AFL Cape York House Foundation will host a gala fundraising evening, a black tie dinner, for 270 guests at Cazalys next month.The fundraising evening, with live entertainment and cultural performances, will fundraise for educational and sporting equipment for AFL Cape York House students Callum Liddy, 14, Elizabeth Kepa, 17, and Hayden Clermont, 14. Picture: Brendan Radke

Elizabeth Kepa’s blue water dreams of joining the Navy started when she first moved to Cairns. Now, the AFL Cape York House student is hoping to help other young First Nations men and women achieve their goals.

“It was hard at first,” the Yam Islander said reflecting on her five years at the First Nations boarding house near Redlynch.

“I was homesick. I missed my family and it was just a different feeling.”

But the soon-to-be St Andrew’s Catholic College graduate said the boarding house had helped her discover new opportunities, giving her the platform to succeed after high school.

“I’m sad now because I’ve been here so long,” she said. “It’s just been so fun hanging out with the girls and playing footy with them, and now I’m leaving.

“It’s like I’m feeling homesick again. It’s like my second home now.”

Next month, AFL Cape York House Foundation will host its annual gala dinner in Cairns with the league’s top boss Andrew Dillon and legendary coach Kevin Sheedy guest speakers at the event.

AFL Cape York House students Elizabeth Kepa, 17, and Callum Liddy, 14, will benefit from new educational and sporting equipment bought with funds from the dinner. Picture: Brendan Radke

Funds raised will go toward the trailblazing Indigenous boarding facility’s programs which started in 2013, turning a ramshackle ruin in Cairns’ industrial sector into a leading educational facility for First Nations boys in Australia.

A girls’ house followed in 2019 with around 100 young men and women from across Cape York, the Torres Strait and Gulf of Carpentaria now supported at its two multi-million dollar campuses.

“80 plus percent of our graduates upon leaving us have gone straight into either full-time or part-time work, or into tertiary education,” AFL Cape York general manager Rick Hanlon said.

“It’s about working with the young person and finding out what success looks like to them.

“We work with communities to understand what are the employment opportunities back home and match that up with work experience here in Cairns.

“We’re structured around social emotional well-being, education and career pathways. The way we manage those three things puts us in a pretty good place.”

AFL Cape York House for Boys was opened in 2013 with a girls boarding facility opened in 2019. Picture: Brendan Radke

The commitment to closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders didn’t stop with the program’s boarding facilities, Mr Hanlon said.

“We’ve got a vision around developing a program that supports graduates in accommodation and housing, with the ultimate being the employment of the young person,” he said.

“That’s a project that we’re currently operating on at the moment and working with layers of government to secure the support to do that.

Organisers hope to raise around $80,000 for the foundation with a brand new car to be auctioned. Mr Hanlon expressed his gratitude to the foundation’s long-term partner Pacific Toyota Cairns.

AFL Cape York House Foundation’s Gala Dinner will be held on Friday, July 11 at Cazalys with tickets still available.

Originally published as ‘Second home’: AFL Cape York House Foundation aims to kick fundraising goals