The Crystal Ball, supporting The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation

THE CRYSTAL BALL, 2013

On 18 October, 2013, St. John’s College will open its doors and welcome 200 guests to the Crystal Ball, in support of The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation.

Guests of the Crystal Ball will be treated to welcoming drinks within the sandstone quadrangle, a three-course meal in the dining hall, a live and silent auction, raffle competitions, live entertainment including an ensemble from The Sydney Conservatorium, and the presence of high profile people. We aim to raise a substantial amount of money for the Foundation.

Click here for The Crystal Ball website

"Alcohol-fuelled violence fills our hospitals each week, causes horrific injuries with thousands upon thousands of Australians affected each and every year.  Its time to take a stance and say "enough"." 

-       Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation

Tom’s Story

Thomas (Tom) Kelly passed away in July 2012 when his parents were forced to switch off his life support, two days after an unprovoked king hit assault in Sydney’s Kings Cross. Fresh out of The Kings School, Tom was on his first night out, along with his girlfriend, when a stranger king hit him from a blind corner.

"Thomas was an amazing person.  His passions in life were his music - he loved to play the drums, guitar and piano - whenever Tom was at home in Bowral, the house would be filled with his music as he learnt new songs to play.  He had a passion for rugby and tennis, along for his pets: Snowy, Casper, Molly and Zoe.

Thomas was honest in his beliefs and how he treated other's and how he expected to be treated - a pure honesty that is hard to find nowadays in humans.  It was reflected during his school days and with his close circle of friends - he would never ever let them down.   He stood tall and proud for what he believed in - head and shoulders above everyone else." - from The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation website 

"Each and every day we pray he is safe and happy, he'll never leave our hearts and the sadness is that he'll never have a 21st birthday, he'll never be married. We won't be grandparents to his children, and that's what we have now lost."

- Ralph & Kathy Kelly

The Issue

Australians love a drink and some see no problem at all with drinking to excess. So it may not come as a surprise to hear that most families today, in some way, are affected by alcohol abuse. The latest finding by FARE show that each year in Australia, the harm from others people's drinking results in:

-       70,000 victims of alcohol-related violence;

-       24,000 victims of domestic violence;

-       20,000 victims of alcohol-related child abuse;

-       14,000 hospitalisations;

-       367 deaths

"The idea that a young man with an incredibly bright future - just starting University and a new job - could walk down a city street minding his own business and be dead from horrific head injuries two days later is simply not acceptable."

- The Honorable Julia Gillard (MP), Former Prime Minister of Australia

What The Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation aims to do

"Our vision is to foster a more responsible drinking culture and ultimately a safer and healthier community, so that everyone can enjoy our streets without fear or intimidation of a violent and often unprovoked attack.  It's every Australian's right to be able to enjoy our beautiful cities without undue peer pressure and crime." - Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation website

Board members include:

-       Ralph Kelly (father of Thomas)

-       Dr. Timothy Hawkes (Headmaster of The Kings School)

-       Guy Reynolds AM (executive director of Macquarie Bank)

-       Professor Gordian Fulde (director of Emergency at St Vincent’s Hospital)

-       Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg (a leading Australian psychologist)

-       Associate Professor Jane Burns (chief executive officer of the Young and Well CRC (YAW-CRC))

Why the Foundation needs our donations

"We need to adopt zero tolerance in our community for anti-social, violent behaviour, an approach that needs to be reflected in the policing of our streets and the sentencing in our courts.

We require real change. We need effective measures to address the issue in a meaningful and long-term manner.

We call on the NSW State Government, along with other States, to reduce the trading hours of licensed venues, set limits on the number of new liquor licences, and provide the community with a greater say in the determination of new liquor licences.

State government won't make any reforms to the amount of alcohol sold unless we come together as one voice.  Every dollar from all public donations received will be spent lobbying our governments at all levels - to send out a strong message that alcohol harm must be addressed as a priority."

- Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation website

Donate to The Crystal Ball by clicking here, or contact Katie Lee at thecrystalball2013@gmail.com for more information about donating to the silent or live auction, or any other aspect of the night.