{"id":238434,"date":"2019-06-27T15:32:46","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T05:32:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=238434"},"modified":"2020-07-19T14:27:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T04:27:41","slug":"claude-pushes-on-to-help-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/06\/27\/claude-pushes-on-to-help-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Claude Pushes On To Help Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Mower Man Claude Harvey, OAM, is visiting the South Burnett this week<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

June 27, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who would have thought that one man pushing a lawn mower could raise almost $1.5 million for charity?<\/p>\n

That’s the total collected so far by Gold Coast resident Claude Harvey, 73, who started pushing a lawn mower around streets in 2000, accepting donations as he went.<\/p>\n

For the first few years, Claude was collecting money for the Gold Coast Project For Homeless Youth.<\/p>\n

But then, three things changed his life.<\/p>\n

Claude explains: “In 2006, two little girls very close to my heart, just three and four, were playing in their own backyard. A 16-year-old boy climbed over the fence and sexually abused them both.”<\/p>\n

He was horrified, and equally upset the teenager was not punished for his crime.<\/p>\n

The second thing occurred one night as he was watching “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” on TV.<\/p>\n

A contestant won $60,000 and announced he would give $30,000 to Bravehearts, a child protection organisation which organises education activities as well as specialist counselling,<\/p>\n

The gesture and the work of Bravehearts inspired Claude and he decided to do a lawn mower walk from Tweed Heads to Hope Island to raise money for the organisation.<\/p>\n

On the return trip he raised funds for his original charity.<\/p>\n

The third thing converted him solely to helping Bravehearts.<\/p>\n

Claude was present when the organisation delivered a program at a local school.<\/p>\n

“It made a big impression with me. I went into Bravehearts the next day and told them I was going to push a lawnmower to Sydney in two months time for them,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And I’ve been doing it ever since.”<\/p>\n

Claude has walked an estimated 23,000km around Australia over the past 19 years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He spends five months a year on his task and has visited every State in Australia.<\/p>\n

His longest walk took him all the way from the Gold Coast to Cairns.<\/p>\n

Over the years, he’s become a bit of a media superstar – he’s been on Sunrise five times! – and even met the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Claude was awarded an Order of Australia Medal “for service to the community through charitable initiatives”.<\/p>\n

Claude began his latest walk earlier this month and is planning to travel from Toowoomba to Mackay.<\/p>\n

He’s already visited Blackbutt and Yarraman, and is staying two days in Nanango, courtesy of some free accommodation offered by the Star Motel.<\/p>\n

Then it’s off to Kingaroy (June 29), Gayndah (July 2) and Mundubbera (July 4).<\/p>\n

Why a lawn mower? “To get people’s attention. I wanted the whole world to take notice.”<\/p>\n

And the big secret? The lawn mower doesn’t work: “No petrol tank!”<\/p>\n

Nanango RSL Club is hosting a fundraiser for Claude on Thursday night from 6:45pm.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He will share some of his stories from the road, and there’ll also be a multi-draw raffle.<\/p>\n

Entry is free.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Claude raised $2500 while in Nanango.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Claude Harvey with Blackbutt officer-in-charge Sergeant Andrew McDowell earlier this week (Photo: QPS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who would have thought that one man pushing a lawn mower could raise almost $1.5 million for charity?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":238435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[30],"yoast_head":"\nClaude Pushes On To Help Kids - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who would have thought that one man pushing a lawn mower could raise almost $1.5 million for charity?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/06\/27\/claude-pushes-on-to-help-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Claude Pushes On To Help Kids - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who would have thought that one man pushing a lawn mower could raise almost $1.5 million for charity?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/06\/27\/claude-pushes-on-to-help-kids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-27T05:32:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-19T04:27:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/20190627mower1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"385\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/06\/27\/claude-pushes-on-to-help-kids\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/06\/27\/claude-pushes-on-to-help-kids\/\",\"name\":\"Claude Pushes On To Help Kids - 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