In 2014, Bede Polding College student Elly Waddups came home from school talking about the work of the Blue Datto Foundation, set up following the tragic death of her friend, Philip Vassallo.
Elly subsequently discussed the issue of safe driving with her parents, Brad and Kay, but the family never thought that tragedy on the road would touch their lives less than 12 months later.
In April 2015, Elly, too, lost her life in a road accident.
“Elly was 18, was working through everything in life … it was all just coming together for Elly at 18,” mum Kay told more than 320 patrons at the Blue Datto Foundation’s annual fundraising Blue Tie Ball on Saturday, October 20.
“She was a happy, positive, smiley girl, that’s for sure. She loved trying it all. She just was loved by so many people.
“[After Elly’s death] we had family and friends holding us up when we didn’t feel so strong. Still to this day we are forever thankful.
“We felt the entire Hawkesbury community supporting us. We are so grateful to so many people we didn’t know, but now do know.
“It turns everything upside down.
“There is no day we have been the same since … There is no day we don’t miss her.”
The emotional story of Elly and her family was part of the gala dinner designed to raise funds for Blue Datto’s work to assist young drivers, including its flagship education program for school-aged children, Keeping Safe.
Winners of Blue Datto’s inaugural Impact the Screen, Impact a Life short film competition were presented with their awards and a raffle, auctions, and fun lucky key and mystery balloon prizes were also on offer.
Blue Datto is on track to deliver the Keeping Safe Program to 7,500 students by the end of this year, reaching a total of 12,600 participants since 2015.
“At the beginning of the year our office team created a target goal of reaching 60 schools, and we are well on the way to achieving this number with 57 schools in NSW currently booked for 2018,” a statement from the foundation said.
“As a result of substantial contributions from the Department of Justice, we were overjoyed to expand our education to regional areas in NSW – titled the Blue Datto Regional Roadshow.
“To support Keeping Safe we’ve continued to deliver our Parent Program and we’ve also developed a new Corporate Program to be rolled out in the coming months. While our focus remains on providing vital education to young people, we see great potential in using our experience to target other vulnerable road users.”
The foundation has also purchased a bus to take its programs to areas from Byron Bay to Albury.
Joe Vassallo, father of Philip, announced the night raised a staggering $96,000 for the foundation to continue its work.
“The community support is unbelievable,” he told the crowd.
Mrs Vassallo confirmed after the event that Paul Cutcliffe, from Cutcliffe properties, then donated another $4,000 to make it an even $100,000.
“We have some very generous supporters who really believe in what we are doing, it's really so motivating and overwhelming for us,” she said.
To donate, visit https://bluedatto.org.au/
