December 21, 2015
Pint-sized fundraiser Hughie Wyvill got an unexpected $1000 bonus on Saturday night from an equally unexpected source.
Hughie, 10, has been raising funds this year to help a sick friend who has been diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma.
He first came to public attention in August when he persuaded Mayor Wayne Kratzmann to join him in a pizza fundraiser.
Hughie and the Mayor cooked 50 pizzas for South Burnett Regional Council staff in a one-day bake-off, raising $1000.
He then moved on to organising a raffle, offering ticket buyers prizes that included a Queensland Cowboys boot signed by Johnathan Thurston; a limited edition Relay For Life cricket ball signed by South Burnett cricket identity Carl Rackemann; and a Southern Stars player’s hat signed by Holly Ferling.
There were many other raffle prizes on offer as well, all donated after Hughie personally approached potential sponsors. This helped raise a further $2700.
Hughie was then invited to address the South Burnett Regional Council last month to give Councillors an update about how his fund-raising drive was going.
He told the meeting that his friend’s illness had placed a lot of financial strains on the boy’s family, and the money he’d been able to give them through his efforts had helped ease their burden, so he was very happy to do it.
The young dynamo thanked “my good mate Kratzie” for helping kick off the drive, and everyone else who’d rallied to assist.
On Friday, December 11, Hughie was asked back to the Mayor’s Charity Christmas Lunch in Kingaroy to deliver a repeat of that talk to the 200 guests who attended the event.
The invitation to talk at the lunch came as a complete surprise.
But since school had finished, the young boy accepted, calmly revised his speech for the occasion, and then climbed up behind the lectern to deliver his talk again in the Town Hall.
It turned out to be a winner for him.
Terry and Rhonda Mackrell, from the South Burnett Gas Guzzlers, were in the audience that day and were deeply impressed by the tale Hughie told.
So much so that when they told fellow Gas Guzzler members Hughie’s story at the club’s Christmas break-up, the group voted to give Hughie $1000 towards his fundraising drive.
So on Saturday night, when the Gas Guzzlers drove their hot rods to Kingaroy for the club’s annual Christmas lights tour, they stopped off at Lions Park to present Hughie and his parents Samantha and Matthew with the money.
“We were just so impressed by this young man,” president Terry said.
“Up until the lunch I hadn’t heard about what he’d been up to, but it’s wonderful to see a young person out doing good things for other people like this.
“I think this is something we should encourage.”
The Gas Guzzlers, who help organise the annual Raising Hell in Maidenwell weekend and The Waterhole Rocks festival at Nanango Showgrounds, use the proceeds of their events to support community causes.
Hughie thanked the Gas Guzzlers for their gift and said he would be going to see his friend the very next day to give his family the money.
He felt sure that with Christmas just days away, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
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