PORT Macquarie’s Julie Bowes is a strong believer in the importance of giving back and helping others.
Born in Camden, NSW in 1961, Julie got married in 1980 and moved to Canberra, where she and her husband raised three children.
Once the kids were off to school, Julie began working in retail.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with people, and retail was perfect for that,” she said.
In 2000, they made the move to Port Macquarie and opened a new and used office furniture shop.
After a couple of years, Julie began working at Woolworths as a checkout operator, where she stayed for seven years.
Things changed in 2011 when her parents moved to Port Macquarie.
Julie’s dad had been diagnosed with bowel cancer and dementia and needed care, so he moved into Garden Village.
“That’s when I really saw how much help was needed in aged care,” Julie said.
Inspired to make a difference, she did a course to become an Assistant In Nursing and started caring for others.
Sadly, after an accident at work, Julie couldn’t continue in that role and had to retire.
However, that didn’t stop her from helping people.
She and her best friend started “The Two Mums”, a small local charity, with support from Woolworths Settlement City.
“We just wanted to help people in our community who were doing it tough,” Julie said.
“Someone would tell us about a family in need, and we’d do what we could.”
Now, they run charity stalls every six to eight weeks, and they also have a trolley outside Woolies where people can donate non-perishable food.
Julie and her friend Sherrill take the food up to St Thomas Church once or twice a week to help local families.
“The best part is seeing the relief on someone’s face when you’ve helped,” Julie said.
“You know you’ve made a little difference in their day – and sometimes that’s everything,” she said.
Julie has nine grandchildren and hopes they’ll grow up knowing the importance of kindness and community.
“I just want them to look back one day and say: ‘She did OK’.”
