BHP Billiton has extended its support of Port Adelaide’s acclaimed Power Community Youth Program, committing to a further three-year partnership and ensuring positive lifestyle messages reach more young South Australians than ever.
The company has backed the program since 2008 and its renewed commitment will enable Power Community Ltd - Port Adelaide’s community division - to use athletes to inspire children in classrooms right across the State.
Power Community Youth Program manager Russell Ebert thanked BHP Billiton for its continuing support as a joint major partner.
“It’s sensational for such an international company like BHP Billiton to see fit to continue their sponsorship over many, many years,” Ebert told PortAdelaideFC.com.au
“It allows us to get out to regional and remote areas. It allows us to take athletes to places that we would not normally be able to reach. With BHP Billiton on board it give us that confidence to plan programs and make sure that our messages are getting right throughout the state not just in the metropolitan areas which are a little easier to service.”
BHP Billiton’s Kym Winter-Dewhirst said the company is committed to supporting communities.
“The Power Community Youth Program is a great fit for our business in South Australia because the profile of our workforce is accented towards families with children and an emphasis on a healthy lifestyle,” Mr Winter-Dewhirst said.
The Power Community Youth Program - established by Ebert in 1999 to provide AFL players with additional personal development - uses male and female athletes to promote physical activity, nutrition, no-tobacco, harmony, respect, team work and other positive lifestyle messages to primary school children.
The program has grown over the past 13 years to reach approximately 30,000 students in 150 schools annually.
Power Community Ltd General Manager Darren Adamson said the support of BHP Billiton would ensure that the positive messages continued to reach children across South Australia.
“BHP Billiton has demonstrated that it supports and shares the values that the Power Community Youth Program promotes in our classrooms,” Mr Adamson said.
“Through its support, we are able to deliver on our shared commitment to making sure those messages of happy, healthy lives are heard by as many students as possible wherever they are in South Australia.”
On Tuesday, Port Adelaide players, female ambassador athletes and Power Community Ltd staff will take advantage of the opportunity leading up to the Round 13 bye to visit more than 10,000 students in the West Coast, Mid-North, Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and Fleurieu Peninsula regions.
They will be at schools in towns including Roxby Downs, Ceduna, Whyalla, Koonibba, Yalata, Minlaton, Nuriootpa, Riverton, Murray Bridge, Callington, Mannum and Victor Harbor.
Ebert will be joined by Darren Adamson, Port Adelaide players Matt Thomas and David Rodan, and female athletes Lisa Kennedy and Ashleigh Ebert in Roxby Downs which is central to BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam operation. They will speak with students at Roxby Downs Area School and St Barbara’s Parish School while also spending time with junior footballers.
“The annual regional day gives our program a chance to go further afield and take positive messages to 40 schools at once,” Mr Adamson said.
“The athletes in the program are powerful ambassadors and role models and they all enjoy the time they spend with young people wherever that may be, but especially in communities where the kids don’t always have access to these kind of initiatives.”
Power Community Ltd acknowledges the support of the program’s other joint major partner, the Government of South Australia. We also thank Adelaide Airport Ltd for their generous support.
