Appointed to look after a legacy

By Jim Mynard
BERWICK’S Bill Rogers has been elected president of Melbourne Legacy.
Mr Rogers, retiring Dandenong Legacy president, became Melbourne’s 83rd president in what has been a departure from tradition because he is the first regional member to take the presidency.
He was installed on Sunday, 19 March 2006.
Mr Rogers and his wife, Joy, live in Berwick, have three children Scott, now serving in Iraq, Wendy, and Steven.
Mr Rogers served six years in the Army with 7 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment before joining the Victorian Police Force.
He served in general duties, the Police Mounted Branch, the Police Training Academy and with the Protective Security Group.
Mr Rogers was the operations and logistics manager for the 1995 World Police and Fire Games and retired from the police force after that event.
He joined Legacy in 1984.
“As a returned serviceman from Vietnam I found a special bond not only with the widows but with other Legatees through comradeship,” he said.
He said demands on Legacy continued to grow and that Melbourne Legacy looked after 24,000 widows and 400 children and disabled dependants.
“Legacy does not expect the number of widows on its books to decline over the next five years.
“A challenge for Legacy is to continue to attract younger Legatees to ease the load on some of our existing loyal but aging members.
“I regard this together with being able to respond to the changing needs and circumstances of our widows and other dependants as paramount for Legacy in the immediate future,” Mr Rogers said.
Legacy is a voluntary organisation that relies on the generosity of the community for financial support, rather than government funding.
The key element in Legacy service is the personal contact which is maintained by individual members with the widows and children they look after.
Mr Rogers said it was this that made Legacy care so special and which gave the work of Legacy its unique status.