THE GREEN SEAT PROJECT

  In Australia, police receive over 50,000 missing persons reports annually. Although many individuals are located shortly after, approximately 2,900 cases persist as long-term disappearances, spanning over three months. These people matter, The Missing Matter...................

When a loved one is reported missing, the emotional toll on their family and friends can be profound. It's crucial to recognize that each person may grapple with their emotions uniquely, responding in diverse ways.

Family members and friends of missing persons often express a spectrum of emotions, including fear, anger, guilt, blame, frustration, helplessness, ambiguity, and isolation. While not everyone undergoes all these feelings, it's vital to understand that any of these reactions are typical responses to an extraordinary circumstance.

Sally Leydon, has lived experience having dealt with the ambiguous loss of her mother’s disappearance some 28 years ago. Determined not to let it break her and after years of struggles, research, media awareness and determination, Sally achieved at least some answers when a coronial inquest deemed her mother deceased. This bizarre and yet now well publicized case now sits with the NSW Unsolved Homicide squad for ongoing investigation. 

Sally, through the backing of thousands of followers launched The Missing Matter podcast. Sally said, I want to create a space for people who may not have had the chance to share their story — whether through media or podcasts — to talk about their missing loved ones. It's almost unfathomable, but every 15 minutes, someone in Australia disappears. 

This cause is deeply personal to me because I believe everyone deserves to be heard and valued. Missing persons and their family’s matter. 

Sally now launches The Green Seat Project to raise awareness of the missing, those who are forgotten, those who are swept aside and lost in the system, as well as those families that are left behind suffering the trauma of not knowing. 

The Green Seat Project has the backing of tens of thousands of online supporters. 

The purpose is to provide a green bench seat in prominent locations in cities and towns throughout the country. Each seat will provide a space for effected people to sit, reflect on the missing and remember them, as well as raising public awareness of their situations through the statement “THE MISSING MATTER” on the seat. Sally envisages each seat to be embellished with a QR code leading people to specifics about the long-term missing people and awareness of the family and friends of the missing’s plight. 

It is believed in all these cases; the answers are out there. Perhaps that person who rests their feet whilst sitting, may be the one that holds the information to aid a family dealing with a missing loved one.