Tony K. Fretton

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About the Kid.

Tony K. Fretton, the K. stands for the Samoan name, Kirifi. Tony was named after his dad’s best freind Antonio, and his middle name was his Grandads best friend, a Reverend in American Samoa. This may explain why he loves his friends. Samoan heritige, born in NZ and raised in Australia/Samoa.

Love for community and volunteer work started in grade 3, Mr. Fisher asked him to stand on a busy Auckland road to sell Red Nose Day ‘Noses’ with his Ranui Primary School friends and when people said kind words of appreciation, he felt happy. The passion continued after the family migrated to Melbourne, Australia.

When his Mum was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, he joined the Cancer Council of Victoria Volunteer team at age 16 and was the youngest volunteer to be a Site Coordinator for Daffodil Day, the exitement (and ego) grew so much, that when the community tv, Channel 31 had nominated him as the Young Victorian of the year, he found his passion. He then served on many youth advisory committees for MP’s and in particular the Electorate of Scullin (with then MP, Harry Jenkins) and the result of that work, is found in the Skate Parks built in and around Whittlesea, South Morang, Mill Park and Epping - as well as, finding appreciation of advocating for a cause and working with Politicians to get things done. Tony continued his community work when he moved to Samoa at 21, where he found a mentor with Lina Chang, the Director of Samoa Victim Support Group, the voluntary work in Samoa was the best learning experience he could ever hope for. The campaigns at the time were to End Domestic Violence, Awareness around Drug and Alcohol Abuse and heavily around protecting victims of Sexual Abuse (which was on the rise in the town centre and villages across the two main islands of Samoa, Upolu and Savaii). Tony regularly helped at the “victims” residence and helped run fundraising activities like ‘Family Fun Day” where funding went back into activities and education for the youth. The result of this work, was being part of the founding team, Samoa Victim Support Group Juniors, a program that continues today and serves the most vulnerable groups in Samoa including homeless, people with disabilities and victims of sexual abuse and violence.

Samoa also gave Tony the experience of working with the Samoan Governement and the Tourism Industry as the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Samoa Tourism, the actual job was self explanatory, but the excitement was arriving into the role during the filming of International Reality TV Series, Survivor: Samoa and the Tourism Authority was working on location scouting, set design and all these glamorous hollywood things. It was the beginning of being involved in the National Cultural Festival, the Teuila Festival, the annual Miss Samoa Pageant, the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant, Jazz Festivals, concerts, cultural exhibitions and independence day celebrations, this prepared him well - when he joined the Pacific’s Largest Telco Network, Digicel. Tony saw the importance of the Gov. support in the Tourism sector, when the 2009 Tsunami hit Samoa - and was part of the team that provided assistance.

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