Aiming to support a cause very close to her heart, retired local business identity and former operator of the popular TJ’s Catering, Julieann Long, is preparing to host a Biggest Morning Tea next month, with proceeds going to the Cancer Council.

Not only is Julie a cancer survivor herself, having successfully battled throat cancer which has taken her voice, Julie lost her much-loved husband and business partner, Terry Long, to cancer in 2022.

A desire to give back to the Cancer Council for the support she and her husband received has inspired Julie to hold a Biggest Morning Tea at the Royal Freemasons’ Benevolent Institution (RFBI) Darby Close Masonic Retirement Village on Friday, June 12.

RFBI staff and residents have rallied around Julie to help her coordinate the event, which will take place in the village's hall in Darby Close, Dubbo, from 10.30am.

Post-laryngectomy and now in remission, Julie communicates through a Provox voice prosthesis. And while her voice today is very different from what it used to be like before her cancer journey – synthesised through the Provox through the use of her breath – Julie has asked Dubbo Photo News to help spread the word about her special event.

“I was once a woman with a strong voice, and I would like the Dubbo Photo News to be my voice in this matter,” she said.

Julie hopes the Dubbo community will support her event by attending the morning tea next month and or making donations.

“I do hope that you’ll all be my voice, so we can collect as much money [as we can] for a chance to find that cure, to fully kill the predator ‘cancer’,” she said.

“Everyone is touched by [cancer], there no hiding from it – it’s everywhere,” she added, sentiments echoed on her Biggest Morning Tea fundraising webpage.

In business for 25 years, Julie is well known in the Dubbo community. A past board member of the Dubbo Business Chamber and heavily involved in women’s activities, Julie was a professional chef catering for many local events and functions until TJ’s Catering had to close, impacted by the cancer journeys of herself and her husband and COVID pandemic restrictions.

Julie hopes her colleagues in the business community will support her Biggest Morning Tea with donations of prizes or vouchers for goods and services, which she and volunteers from RFBI will organise for raffles on the day. While she has set a modest fundraising target of $500, Julie hopes that with good support and a good turnout on the day she might actually double that amount.

Retirement Living Village Coordinator Kim Mooney, who used to own Price Attack, has already donated bundles of beauty products to the cause and invites others to make similar donations.

Kim said the residents at RFBI Darby Close Masonic Retirement Village host a Biggest Morning Tea every year, organised by different residents, and this year they are supporting Julie’s fundraising efforts.

“Everybody’s supportive here. Our lovely residents here at the village will pitch in and help,” Kim added.

Any business or individual who might like to donate items to raffle at Julie’s Biggest Morning Tea can contact Kim Mooney at RFBI on 0448 881 118 or email kmooney@rfbi.com.au.

Alternatively, cash donations can be made via Julie’s fundraising page which can be found at

www.biggestmorningtea.com.au/fundraisers/julielong.