Catching a Burglar

If you need a good yarn, Jacqui Cosgrove is your woman. Here, she tells a story about catching a burglar with her sister, many years ago. The story reflects the importance of community in Jacqui's life. She spends a lot of time volunteering, participating in community events and fundraising. Community provides her with encouragement and support.  As one good story tends to lead onto another, it was fascinating to hear Jacqui talking about her early life.  Jacqui was raised on a farm in the bush, in rural NSW, Australia. Her first home was a mud hut, made of rammed earth.  Her mother and father were very community-oriented. She remembers family outings often being interrupted in order to help somebody they had come across.  Her father, like his siblings, received his education by working at the school to earn it. This was a situation not uncommon in the bush at this time.  He left at 13 to go out to work.  Through the stories that Jacqui tells, it's not hard to spot the passing on of values through the generations of a family: Community, compassion, courage, and hard work.