Because Noelle found her feet again, another widow can too. 

In 2003, Noelle was grieving, uncertain and unsure where a life without Tom would even begin, like many widows still today. Then she got in touch with Melbourne Legacy.

The Younger Widows Support Group Noelle joined didn’t just get her through the first hard months. It became the place she returned to for years, through the ordinary milestones nobody warns you about: the first Christmas, the first New Year, the first decision alone that she’d always made with Tom by her side.

Melbourne Legacy helped her untangle complicated Gold Card and War Widows Pension paperwork that, in the depths of grief, can feel like it’s own kind of grief.

Throughout that process, those conversations with people who understood her, something shifted. Noelle stopped being only the person receiving help, and started being the person other widows leaned on. In 2010, she became a Legatee herself.

Since then, the support Noelle has given has taken many forms. She’s on the end of a phone call after a long and bad day. She’s sitting beside someone in a government office because forms are easier to face with company. Noelle has given her all for an organisation that gave her back her confidence to stand on her own two feet again.

She was later awarded an OAM for the difference she’s made. She’ll tell you the real reward though isn’t a glowing commendation or a medal, it’s watching another widow find her feet the way Legacy once helped her find hers.

Right now, somewhere in Victoria, there’s a widow standing where Noelle once stood. She doesn’t know about the community of support that exists just around the corner. She doesn’t know a Legatee or a Melbourne Legacy Case Manager can sit beside her and help her to navigate the complicated pension system.

She just knows the house is quieter than it used to be.

This Remembrance Day, your gift can be the reason she finds out she isn’t facing it alone.