Business icon Frank O’Halloran (AM) knows exactly why the Salvation Army is his favourite charity, his wife told him so!

 Former head of QBE Insurance launched this year’s local Red Shield Appeal with a personal $100,000 donation kicked in the can at the traditional luncheon in Orange.

 Another $34,000-plus was also raised at the subsequent auction, including of sports memorabilia and AFL grand final tickets, that usually launches the Salvo’s major fundraising drive each year.

 “I’m an Albury boy, one of 11 children, from a farming family,” Mr O’Halloran said.

 “I met my wife, Rosie, in 1966 and she was Lifeline volunteer for 15 years and she said to me, ‘Frank, when you retire, I want you to join the Salvation Army, for people we deal with, the Salvation Army is always there for them’,” he explained.

 Later, in his address, he added: “My wife would say she got a phone call from such-and-such, and thought, ‘who am I going to phone to help?’ and she would ring the Salvation Army.”

 Chair of the Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal in Sydney for seven years and developer of the new private hospital in Orange, he has now thrown his support behind the local appeal.

 “Why I support them, is the work they do behind the scenes is invaluable.

 “They help over a million Australians a year, they provide one and half million meals a year, and they support 43,000 victims of domestic violence, and they do it all behind the scenes,” he said.

 Helping the homeless is another major area of support by the Salvation Army with a video presentation at the event adding: “For every homeless person you see, there are 13 other people out there, and that is a frightening thought.”

 Chairman of the local Red Shield Appeal, Tony Rodd from Westpac was ecstatic over the fundraising lunch success to kickstart this year’s Appeal. “At the last count, we’ve raised $134,000, Frank donated $100,000 of that,” he said.

 “I believe that he always donates that amount but, since he ventured out here, he has now given that to the Orange Appeal,” Mr Rodd said.

 He said that the other $34,000 raised was also a “great result”. “We normally average about $20,000, so we’ve well exceeded that,” he said.

 Mr O’Halloran said that the Appeal — which involves volunteers door-knocking throughout the community, has lost none of its significance — despite the range of charity and fundraising novelties that now clutter our social space.

 “They’re still in fashion, they don’t have a bad-bone in their body,” he said of the Salvation Army.

 Local school captains featured as special guests at the fund-raising event with Mr Rodd saying that publicity for the lunch often sees a spike in volunteer numbers with local school students normally featuring.

 “The more heavily publicised this event is, the more doorknockers that might turn-up,” he said.

 “We always invite the school captains, because schoolkids are our best volunteers. Our school student volunteers for years and years have been our frontline and, for that, we must thank them,” he said.

 Like most events in early 2020, the Appeal moved online due to the COVID-19 lockdowns: “We didn’t have one last year, we had a E-collection, which went alright” he said.

 In 2021 however, the traditional door-knock is back in the material world and is being held locally on the weekend of Saturday–Sunday, May 29–30.

 “That’s the tradition, it is always the last weekend in May,” Mr Rodd said. “But we always do well, Orange is a generous place,” he concluded.