Global hands of friendship

By Jim Mynard
CASEY Council has created an honour board of community representatives who have supported the Casey Global Friendships.
Those listed were also presented with a plaque in appreciation of their contribution.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford hosted a reception for the volunteers and said the City of Casey took pride in its sister city and friendship links.
Cr Bradford said Casey’s Global Friendship’s Committee upheld the principles of goodwill, harmony, increased tolerance, friendship and understanding cultural awareness and appreciation.
He said this involved breaking down barriers, building links and humanitarian support.
Australian Sister Cities Association (ASCA) national secretary Margaret Evans congratulated Casey on its contribution to the sister cities youth movement and expressed thanks for its support of ASCA.
Ms Evans said Casey director of community services Jenny Lee had contributed enormously to sister cities at a national level and had developed the ASCA youth sector.
She said also that the former City of Berwick had provided one of the early ASCA chairmen in former Berwick mayor John Byron.
“Mr Byron is also one of the few Australian recipients of the Eisenhower medal,” she said.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (US president 1953-1961) started the people-to-people movement after he returned home from serving as a general in World War II.
He argued that if communities from various countries formed sister city relationships and personal friendships, the likelihood of further wars would be reduced.
Cr Bradford said the former City of Berwick formalised relationships with Berwick upon Tweed in England in 1982, and with Springfield, Ohio USA 1985 and the City of Casey formed friendship agreements with Ioannina, Greece in 1998 and Ermera, in East Timor during 2004.
He said activities generated from these relationships included the 500-year-old tradition of the annual riding of the bounds, many student exchanges, the Edwin Flack Games and the James B Connolly Games sporting and cultural exchanges.
There was also the Friends of Ermera’s program to help people in Ermera rebuild their lives and communities.
“It does this by raising funds, organising the provision of goods, services and technical advice and encouraging Australian groups to assist in this process of recovery and reconstruction,” he said.