The pain is still raw for Mary Cusumano 20 years after her husband Angelo was shot dead in a robbery at The Gamesmen computer store at Penshurst.
Mrs Cusumano was caring for their four children, aged three to 13, in their Illawong home when that dreadful knock on the door came four days before Christmas in 1995.
“The pain never leaves, but you develop a way of coping with it,” Mrs Cusumano said as she sat in the Conca D’oro function centre at Riverwood, which holds special memories.
Mary and Angelo met in the Conca D’oro when he was a waiter and she was a guest at a function, and they held their wedding reception there in 1981.
A dinner will raise funds to build a world-first residential trauma recovery centre for young children and teenagers affected by homicide.
The project is being undertaken by the Homicide Victims' Support Group, of which Mrs Cusumano has been a committee member since 1998.
The trauma centre will be called Grace's Place in honour of Grace Lynch, the mother of Anita Cobby.
Angelo Cusumano jnr, who was 13 when his father was killed, is spearheading his family’s fund-raising campaign, called Angels with Grace, which has so far raised $13,000.
The dinner in June will provide a big boost, but other measures will be needed to reach their $100,000 goal, and they welcome direct donations.
Long-time family friend, Fillip Navarra, whose company, Navarra Venues, operates Conca D’oro and three other function centres, is facilitating the event.
The Navarra family started their business at Riverwood more than 40 years ago by buying the Clarendon Ballroom, as it was then called.
The Cusumano family still operates The Gamesmen store at Penshurst.
Mary Cusumano said Grace’s Place would be a haven for children, many of whom had been affected by, and perhaps involved in, horrendous cases.
“In some domestic violence events, one parent may be dead and the other in jail,” she said.
Angelo Cusumano jnr said children were often “the unseen, unheard victims,” and Grace’s Place would provide services that at present were unavailable to many.
Further information: https://www.mycause.com.au/page/120474/angels-with-grace
