When the workers at our Geelong Refinery started collecting copper waste to raise money for charity, they had no idea what an amazing impact their actions would have.
A difficult time
Viva Energy Maintenance Fitter Jason Jozwik’s brother Steve was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2011, at the age of 42.
For the last 18 months of Steve’s life, Jason was his primary carer. It was difficult for Jason to talk about what was happening, and for a long time he suffered in silence.
“When I finally opened up, the company was really supportive and told me to take as much time off as I needed whenever I needed it – for doctors’ appointments and things like that,” Jason says.
“Then when the time did come, when my brother died, Meg Alizzi who used to work in the office, organised hampers and the flowers, and I reckon she dropped off enough food to feed 50 people for a week.
“We were so busy organising the funeral and everything else, so to have meals in the fridge, that was awesome. They really went above and beyond.”
Banding together
After Steve passed away in 2015, Jason’s workmates wanted to do something for the family.
A co-worker and good mate, Instrument / Electrical Technician David Seear, suggested they collect and then sell scrap copper from around the refinery and donate the money to the fight against MND.
They started putting whatever copper waste they could find – from lead-armoured cables and extension cords to 15kg solid copper plates – into a big steel bin.
When they’d collected around five tonnes of the material, they decided they would get more money if they stripped and sorted it. They decided to come in that Saturday, on their day off, and encouraged any other volunteers to join them.
Jason was expecting maybe half a dozen people to turn up, so you can imagine his surprise when 40 of his workmates showed up bright and early that Saturday morning.
“To come in on their own time, it really helped me a lot,” he says. “I thought: ‘Whoa, these guys have really got my back.’
“We just chipped in and worked together – it’s what we do. If there’s a problem, or someone’s struggling, the boys will band together at the drop of a hat.
“When it comes to a personal matter, these guys we work with are like nothing else – they’re there for you for any cause.”
Groups of them got together a few more times over the next few months until all the copper was stripped and sorted.
Then they put it securely in a warehouse and waited, keeping a close eye on copper prices.
A rare opportunity
The copper sat in the warehouse until the day Dave heard Jason had tickets to The Footy Show’s MND special in June 2017.
“When David heard I was going to the show, he said: ‘Hang on a minute, we’ve got this copper. Let’s cash it in now and try to get you involved somehow.’
“We thought we had five or six thousand dollars worth, so we collected the bins and took them over to the recycling place. When the guy said it was worth $27,000, I just couldn’t believe it!
“We approached the company and said: ‘Can we present this on behalf of Viva Energy?’ The company agreed and offered to put in an extra $3,000 to round it up to $30,000.”
When The Footy Show heard about the planned donation, they quickly organised for Jason to present the money on air.
“We only cashed in the copper on Thursday, and by Monday I was going to be on The Footy Show on Wednesday,” Jason says. “So you can imagine the thoughts going through my head.”
After the show aired, Jason started getting messages of support from people he’d never even met. It was only then that the scale of what was achieved started to hit home.
“In a normal month, I might get two or three emails and then suddenly I was getting up to 30 a day from people who work for Viva Energy all over Australia saying ‘thank you’ and ‘well done’. That was one of the biggest things for me – how it got people talking and the opportunity to support such a worthwhile cause. I was blown away by that.”
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