IF YOU have been to see the Yanco-Wamoon Hawks play footy in the last four years, chances are you’ve encountered Bruce Staines. Mr Satines enjoys helping the organization and watching his children play for the club. Born in Sydney, he has one brother and two sisters and from an early age, enjoyed carpentry. He eventually became a police officer at the suggestion of his brother, who had joined ten years prior, and spent his career helping the public. Mr Staines first arrived in Leeton from Deniliquin in 1996 and has made it his home ever since. As a police officer he served the community for 20 years, as a father of five he spends his time chasing kids around between school and sport activities. Whats your earliest childhood memory? “Waking up one morning and seeing my mum holding my sister and telling me to be careful about a big hole burnt in the middle of the kitchen floor. The heater and clothes had caught fire and was maybe three metres across. “It was a big hole in the middle of the floor in the kitchen.? Who did you look up to as a kid? “My mum and dad. “Mum was a gentle sort of woman and taught me the right way to do things. Dad was a very hard man but  one day he turned around and said ‘son, one of the greatest virtues in life is an understanding heart.’ “If you can put yourself in someone else’s shoes and think they way they’re thinking. That’s how I placed my policing career and life in general I suppose, to try and place myself in someone else’s shoes.” What did you want to be when you grew up? “A carpenter, mum and dad have photos of me running around in the back yard with a hammer in my hand and going to nail panels on to the back fence. What do you like about living in Leeton? “What really impresses me about living in Leeton is how generous businesses are about kids in sport. “They are fantastic. “I’ve had a lot to do with Little Athletics and Group 20 and have had a lot of businesses say if we have a kid who can’t go somewhere due to financial reasons, give me a ring. “That’s how good this town is.” What is your greatest achievement? “Talking my wife into marrying me and giving me five kids, and we’ve been married for 31 years.