By Ian Williams
Whoever came up with the expression ‘charity begins at home’ never met Roxby Downs’ Sam Secker.
Sam (pictured far right with family in the main header photo) is a community-loving family woman with three children and a small business who just can’t help giving.
A founding member of the hugely successful Roxby Community Postie Bash, Sam launched her own property management business, Secker Real Estate, in Roxby a couple of years ago with fairly modest expectations.
“The economic climate was poor at the time and I thought 24 homes would be a good start – but I’ve just hit 120 properties in two years so it’s doing really well,” says Sam.
A couple of local sporting clubs in the far north South Australian mining town are also doing really well because it’s allowed Sam to step in as their major sponsor.
Her planned advertising spend – which she no longer needs – goes to the East Roxby Roos football team in a three-year partnership, and she’s taken over as the principal sponsor of the newly-formed Olympic Dam Barbarians rugby league team.
Sam is also a sponsor of the family fun day at the Roxby Downs Dirt Circuit Club and has contributed over $1,800 to the McGrath Foundation Pink Stumps Day this year.
The under-13 Northern SAPSASA netball team is also benefiting from her generosity after Sam’s daughter Llewellyn was selected for the side.
Sam and her husband David, an underground crane operator at Olympic Dam, are also on the planning committee for next year’s postie bash, the first since 2014.
Since the inaugural bash in 2011 more than $140,000 has been raised for the local hospital and youth of Roxby Downs.
Teams take two days to ride postie motor bikes to William Creek and back, with regular breaks in their journey for a few challenging fun games. Each team is responsible for fundraising in the lead-up to the bash with prizes for the winners.
“Last time we had 17 teams and one of them raised about $15,000 on their own,” says Sam. “One person raised nearly $2000 by having wax ripped off his body. They really get into it and it becomes a bit of a competition.”
Check out the fun at the 2014 Roxby Downs Postie Bash
Three postie bashes have been held since 2011 which has paid for new televisions and leather armchairs in every room of the hospital, plus a range of school and sporting equipment.
Sam says the strong sense of community in Roxby Downs has been a highlight for her family since they moved there 10 years ago. Even their youngest daughter Llewellyn, 13, gets involved and has initiated her own fundraising projects.
“We love it here – Roxby Downs has given us a really good life,” she says. “I think any community is what you put into it. I certainly don’t do any of this alone – it’s not about any individual person, it’s about the whole town getting together.”
mapp.data.push( {“alignment”:””,”center”:{“lat”:-30.5620637,”lng”:136.90088149999997},”editable”:null,”filter”:null,”height”:”150″,”hideEmpty”:null,”initialOpenDirections”:null,”initialOpenInfo”:false,”layers”:null,”layout”:”inline”,”mapid”:”137″,”mapTypeId”:”roadmap”,”metaKey”:null,”minZoom”:null,”name”:”mapp1″,”poiList”:false,”postid”:”11104″,”query”:null,”title”:”Roxby Downs”,”width”:”100%”,”zoom”:9,”pois”:[{“address”:”Roxby Downs SA 5725, Australia”,”body”:”Australia”,”correctedAddress”:”Roxby Downs SA 5725, Australia”,”iconid”:null,”point”:{“lat”:-30.5620637,”lng”:136.90088149999997},”poly”:null,”postid”:null,”kml”:null,”thumbnail”:null,”title”:”Roxby Downs SA 5725″,”type”:null,”url”:null,”viewport”:{“sw”:{“lat”:-30.6235418,”lng”:136.84297990000005},”ne”:{“lat”:-30.4656691,”lng”:137.07202830000006}},”html”:”
“}]} );
if (typeof mapp.load != ‘undefined’) { mapp.load(); };
Regional Awards Partners
