Local lad Cory Payne is celebrating his twenty-first this weekend after reaching the milestone birthday on 1 November – and his family are planning a grand celebration of life and family.
Most people have now heard of Cory’s horrific accident and how he has spent his recovery raising funds for charities by participating in walks and charity runs. It started with the HBF fun run he completed to help raise money for breast cancer just two weeks after coming out of rehabilitation – thinking it would help him rebuild his fitness as well as help a good cause. Support flooded in for the young man who was committed to rebuilding his life as well as spreading the word about road safety. Since then he has raised just over $50,000 which he has donated to various charities as well as families and individuals in need.
Cory has turned his experience into an amazing positive by becoming a road safety advocate and raising awareness of the repecussions of driving tired. His diary is now filled with visits to local schools and clubs as well as formal functions and events where he is a volunteer speaker.
Most recently he was the recipient of the Insurance Commission of Western Australia’s Regional Safety Award at the 2017 Western Australian Regional Achievement and Community Awards (story left).
“Winning this award will open many doors for me to continue my campaign to raise road safety awareness to young drivers on our country roads,” said Cory. “I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through, or any family to go through what my family has gone through.”
Commission Secretary Kane Blackman congratulated Cory on the important work he was carrying out through regional Western Australia:
“Road safety is so important in our regional communities because car crashes are still over-represented in those areas.”
Cory also recently donated $6000 to the local St John’s Ambulance branch in Victoria Plains – and was able to thank the volunteers who saved his life, in person. Cory’s fundraising proceeds were used to purchase two Ferno oxygen kits or ‘green bags” for the ambulances in New Norcia and Calingiri.
“The upgrade of this vital equipment provides oxygen to the patient before being transported in the ambulance and the volunteers of St John Ambulance Victoria Plains are extremely grateful to Cory and his family for their donation which will be of a huge benefit to our community,” said spokesperson Petrina King.
This month you can hear Cory’s story first hand when he presents ‘How quickly life can change’ at the Moora Performing Arts Centre on 17 November.
Tickets available from Peter Van Der Ende from the Moora Chamber of Commerce at moorachamber@bigpond.com or from the Moora CRC on Ph 9653 1053.
