An insight into the Presentation Family Centre Board
PFC is a place of welcome and peace at Balnarring Beach, where families and individuals can connect with self and others, so their own lives may be enriched by their involvement with us. We offer six comfortable cottages and recreational opportunities that enhance connectedness and belonging. In all we do, we respect and value each other. We work as stewards for a hopeful future.
The PFC Board is a small and committed group of volunteers doing their best to ensure that PFC continues to meet its mission and lives out its values.
We generally meet every month with a break of two months over the Christmas / New Year period. The PFC Annual General Meeting and the PFC end of year function are held in November each year.
“Although we are small, we have big plans”
We currently have just six members, (L to R) Lisa Gray (Not a member but previous PFC General Manager), Rev. Christine Barren, Rachel Connor (Deputy Chair), Claire Thorn, Prof. Phillip Steele (Chair) and Cate Sydes. Our Treasurer, Ian Urquhart is absent from the photo. Erica Pegorer from Kildare Ministries is a very welcome attendee at Board meetings.
Each Board member brings a unique and valuable set of skills to the Board.
Christine Barren joined the PFC board in 2015. She is Anglican Deacon at Flinders/Balnarring Parish; musician and teacher specialising in pre-school and primary work; married almost 50 years to John with three adult sons and 4 grandchildren. Christine sees all these roles as equally important in defining who she is.
Christine’s music and church work overlap as she is sent out to work in kindergartens, to run playgroups and do some music in the local aged care facility. Deacons are particularly called to care for others and to enable others to do the same. This has resulted in her growing connection with Presentation Family Centre. She believes it is a great privilege to be part of all that happens at PFC.
Rachel lives locally with her partner and children. She became involved with PFC in 2013 as a volunteer and joined the board in 2015. Rachel works as a consultant, providing coaching, facilitation and diversity and inclusion consulting. In June, Rachel stepped down from the board to take up the role of Interim General Manager at PFC until December.
Claire Thorn has been involved with PFC since 2017. Claire brings to the PFC Board a deep knowledge of social services gained from community and public sector roles and qualifications in public policy development, management and governance. Claire is actively involved in her local community. Claire is particularly interested in how community engagement and activity can address inequality and discrimination and tackle the impact of loneliness and trauma.
Phillip, with his wife Maureen have four adult children and eleven grandchildren. He is active in his Parish community and has been involved in Vinnies, the Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project and his Parish Pastoral Council. Phillip joined the PFC Board in 2017 with a desire to support families and individuals in need.
Phillip holds a PhD in Information Systems, is an Emeritus Professor of Monash University and has 30 years of experience as a University academic. He has played a variety of senior academic leadership roles including Pro Vice-Chancellor.
Cate joined the PFC Board in 2019 after being involved with PFC for previous 12 months after moving from Sydney to Melbourne to become the CEO of Loreto Ministries. Cate was previously the CEO of Marist 180 in Sydney which provide housing and education for over 5000 children and their families in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Being part of the PFC is a great opportunity contribute to the community. Cate has completed the Company Directors Course, has a MBA and a Masters in Psychology and Education which will support and add value to the governance of PFC.
Ian is a CPA and has had a wide-ranging career in finance and accounting. He has a close and long-term interest in housing for and care of people with disabilities together with years of Board experience in the commercial world as well as not for profit organisations. He joined the Board in 2013.
Late in 2019 the Board spent a lot of time re-examining PFC’s vision, mission and values and based on that work, developed a set of objectives for 2020 covering four broad areas: Guest Experience, Education & Recreation, Connection to Schools, Community and Kildare, and Stewardship of People, Resources and Environment. This work helped us learn more about each other, to share our values and to develop a strong sense of trust.
The advent of the COVID-19 crisis in February / March 2020 caused a major disruption to our plans! PFC had to cancel all bookings for accommodation by guests and school / community groups. However, the Board decided to continue to help families and individuals in need by providing a small number of longer-term stays. We are now in the process of implementing a staged re-opening of PFC for short-term stays in a COVID-19 safe way.
During the last few months, our Board has met regularly via Zoom and it is hoped that we may be able to continue with this occasionally as it saves so much travel time.
Later in the year, we plan to undertake an evaluation of Board activities and processes to ensure that we are working as effectively as possible and are able to identify opportunities for improvement. We would also like to attract some enthusiastic young people who share our commitment to make PFC a place of welcome and peace, where families and individuals can connect with self and others, so their own lives may be enriched by their involvement with us.
Phillip Steele
PFC Chair