London bombing survivor Dr Gill Hicks was the key speaker at this year's Legacy Business and Community Lunch held at City Diggers on Friday.
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The 47-year-old has gone from a successful career in the arts to devoting her time to making the world a better place.
Dr Hicks boarded the same train carriage as a suicide bomber in the London Underground on July 7, 2005. It was one of four co-ordinated terrorist attacks on public transport that morning, killing 52 civilians in total and injuring more than 700.
She suffered injuries so severe she was unable to be identified straight away, and was taken to St Thomas' Hospital as "one unknown".
She lost both her legs, but is "ecstatic to be alive".
Now her work centres around trying to make a difference with her insights, "particularly around countering violent extremism".
The South Australian woman hoped talking about her experience and the subsequent journey from the rubble would be constructive for people currently facing struggles.
"If you fall, you never fall far because humanity is there to cushion that fall," she said. "That's what's important to me that [these people] have a sense that there's still a lot of good in the world."
She felt honoured to be part of the Legacy event, and noted the importance of the charity to help families of those who had "paid the ultimate sacrifice".
"It's about how we collectively embrace those that need a sense that life will be OK, that life can continue," she said.
Dr Hicks founded the London-based not-for-profit organisation M.A.D. (Making a Difference) for Peace in 2007. In December 2014 she was named South Australian of the Year and was a finalist for the 2015 Australian of the Year award.
Sorrow, strength and a community banding together were on show at the City Diggers club in Wollongong on Friday.
A young Shell Cove war widow and a survivor of the 2005 London bombings spoke of overcoming adversity at the annual Legacy Business and Community Lunch.
Fundraising from this event is yet to be tallied, but since its inception in 2007, it has managed to raise nearly $200,000 for Wollongong and South Coast families of those who have given their life or their health for their country.
Between Helensburgh and Bega the charity assists 1845 widows, 13 Legacy juniors and 19 people with a disability.
Local chairman Phil McNamara choked back tears as he admitted the day always made him emotional. However he was full of praise for businesses for getting behind the organisation.
Mr McNamara spent 35 years in the Australian Defence Force and joined Legacy in 1984.
‘‘My platoon sergeant was killed in Vietnam and Legacy looked after his wife and young son very well,’’ he said.
‘‘So I dedicated myself to when I could I would join Legacy and I would continue to do Legacy’s work always.’’
Legacy grew out of the ashes of World War I and nationally supports about 90,000 families emotionally and financially.
Legacy’s work also places a special emphasis on nurturing the development of children of fallen soldiers. It offers education scholarships, mentoring and adventure programs to provide opportunity and friendships.
To donate go to Legacy.com.au.
For Jessie Feeney, Legacy has been the shoulder to cry on when she has needed it most.
At 30 weeks pregnant, the Shell Cove local was widowed when her partner was killed in a helicopter crash during a surveillance mission in Afghanistan on August 30, 2012.
A commando in the Special Forces, Private Nathanael Galagher, 23, was on his second tour of ‘‘the Ghan’’ and just weeks earlier had learnt he would be father to a beautiful boy.
The last time Ms Feeney saw her beloved was at the airport, where his mate Merv promised to bring him home. Corporal Mervyn McDonald was also killed during the same crash in Helmand Province.
Three years on and the tragedy is still fresh for Ms Feeney.
‘‘I’m as good as I can be, I just take it day by day. I’ve got to stay strong for my son [Jack],’’ she said.
She spoke at Friday’s Legacy luncheon to let others know how much she valued her ‘‘Legatee’’ Phil McNamara, always there to talk to whenever she needed.
Being ex-military and having a son currently serving overseas, he understood her and they had formed a special connection, she said.
‘‘Nothing will ever bring Nate back or my happiness back. But Legacy does take off a big burden,’’ Ms Feeney wrote in a letter supporting the Legacy appeal.
Her ‘‘best friend’’ would forever look down upon her life from above, while Legacy would be by her side for emotional and financial support, she said.
When Jack is old enough Ms Feeney hopes her son can attend the Legacy kids camps to ‘‘do all the things he would have done with his dad’’.