North Melbourne great and recently inducted Hall of Fame legend Barry Cable is not only known for his incredible football career, but also for his tremendous work as the founding director of a fantastic community organisation which is making a difference in the lives of many disadvantaged children and their families.

Cable started the Community Development Foundation 14-years ago which runs several programs throughout schools in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. The most successful initiative; their school passport program.

"It's about getting parents back involved in the school system. The passport program enables parents and carers to earn points through their work and involvement in school activities," Cable told kangaroos.com.au.

"Every time they come to help out at the school whether that be for sports days, P and C meetings, reading to the children, cleaning up in the yard, they get about $1 an hour and once they save up a few hours the money goes toward school things for the children - lunches, books, uniforms, excursions, etc.

"It's a two-fold thing, because the school then doesn't have to pay someone else to do the work."

These small things might not sound like much to the average Australian family, however Cable says they make a huge difference to the school children, many of which come from families who have very little.

"We're working within low socio-economic areas so the families don't have much money and the kids suffer, there are a lot of Aussie kids who go to school without even eating breakfast.

Another successful program of Cable's Community Development Foundation is a behaviour and attendance program for students who have been skipping classes and acting out.

"We look at the worst behaved and underperforming kids and use an incentive system to encourage regular attendance at school.

"We give them things like a game or a new footy for the boys and jewellery for the girls, things like that to encourage them to work harder."

Cable believes some of the lessons he learnt from his football days are now life-long values and he continues to reflect on them in his working life with the foundation.

"Footy is all about commitment and persistence. If you want to get anywhere, no matter what you're doing, you've got to be prepared to knuckle down and do the work. Nothing's going to come to you, you have to go out there and grab it."

To find out more about the Community Development Foundation visit thecdf.com.au or phone (08) 9355 3155.