October 14, 2022
The dollars are still rolling in and being counted, but it looks like this year’s South Burnett Relay For Life fundraising campaign has raised just over $116,000!
South Burnett Relay For Life chair Rowena Dionysius said she was always hoping to raise at least $100,000, so she was more than happy with this year’s total.
“It’s a helluva lot of money for this small area so I can’t be greedy!” she said.
The 2022 Relay For Life campaign had some hiccups along the way, including the cancellation of the Captain’s Dinner and auction which are always major fundraisers.
But a new event, the Cricket 4 Life fun day, raised more than $25,000, and the South Burnett Mountain Bike Club’s “Ride 4 Relay” and the “Cattle For A Cure” sale brought in more than $28,000.
The venue for the Relay was also changed at the last minute from Kingaroy Showgrounds to the Kingaroy Town Hall due to the threat of wet weather.
The new location meant more last-minute changes but all the traditional Relay events went ahead, including the Survivors’ Walk at the start and the Candlelight Ceremony at dusk.
However, the length of the Relay was cut back to 10:00pm.
This year’s event had added poignancy for Rowena as her brother died of cancer just days before the event.
“It just makes me want to go harder to help find a cure,” she said.
Rowena’s son, clinical exercise physiologist Brodie Dionysius, was the guest speaker at the Survivors’ Afternoon Tea.
Brodie spoke about losing his uncle to the disease as well as the importance of exercise in both reducing the risk of getting cancer and helping survivors to recover after treatment.
He is currently doing a Masters degree in oncology.
The number of teams taking part in this year’s event was down, with just 11 registered, but there were still plenty of enthusiastic walkers.
There were about 30 participants in “Brooksy’s Crew”, raising money in memory of the late Ben Brooks who died in January of T-lymphoblastic lymphoma.
UPDATE October 18: The grand total is now over $117,000. The best costume award went to the “Worn Out Walkers” while “Fun Fair Fiesta” took out the best letterbox award. The highest fundraising team went to “Brooksy’s Crew”, which raised an impressive $23,313 and counting!
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