Actions and consequences
515. Pat Rogers
A retired Assistant Principal from Blackburn has raised more than £200,000 through her anti-violence charity after tragically losing her son.
Pat Rogers was inspired to set up the ‘Every Action Has Consequences’ in 2010 after her son Adam was tragically killed with a single punch on a night out in Blackburn while trying to act as peacemaker. At the hospital on the night of Adam’s death, Pat and her whole family decided that they would not let the tragedy change them as people and vowed to help prevent such incidents happening in the future.
Pat is involved with the charity full time and plays a central role, managing the charity work, raising funds and going into schools and prisons to educate young people about the dangers of alcohol abuse and uncontrolled anger. The charity provides school packs complete with DVD and further teaching materials to help stem the negative effects of alcohol misuse, and is now being used all over the country- from Scotland to the Isle of Wight. They have also just launched a Primary School pack which deals with managing anger.
Through the schools packs they have reached a million young people. In the last year, around 17,000 of those have been spoken to directly by one of the Rogers family. They also run training programmes for teachers on how to teach the programme in schools- they have trained over 650 teachers now.
Prime Minister David Cameron said:
“Pat has created an inspiring campaign in the memory of her son, Adam. Her mission to stop others becoming victims of senseless violence has already reached over one million young people and trained 650 teachers – and she is now rolling out an animated programme for primary school children too. I am delighted to be able to recognise Pat for all that she is doing by making her the UK’s 515th Point of Light.”
Pat said:
“It is a real honour to receive the Point of Light Award. The work we do is in our son Adam’s memory. His story resonates with young people because they get to know the sort of person he was and it has a powerful impact. He made the world a better place when he was here and through the work I do, I am happy that he continues to make the world a better place even after his death.”