By Parker McKenzie
The Rotary Club of Emerald and District raised over $50,000 for the Monash Children’s Hospital as part of its annual fun run held last December, with rotary members meeting with hospital staff on Wednesday 29 April to hand over the funds and have a tour of the laboratories.
Emerald Rotary President Marcus Adams said all the club’s members felt privileged to be able to contribute something so meaningful to the Monash Children’s Cancer Centre.
“We know what great support we have from sponsors and the kids that participate and the families,” he said.
“It was just a perfect day. A lot of kids, in particular in the older age groups, came out to support it because we haven’t had the run for a number of years.”
He said the event is an iconic one for the local area that has been supported by local primary schools.
“This event has been running since 2002 and has raised over $720,000 for children’s causes,” Mr Adams said.
“It’s not a surprise now that everyone is so supportive.”
The Rotary Club’s Kids Fun Run Chairperson John Henderson said after two years of Covid, there was concern about whether people would turn up.
“It all went really well and people came back in large numbers, making it a huge success,” he said.
“We’ve donated to the Monash Children’s Hospital for the past three years and luckily we’ve been able to donate nearly $150,000 to them.”
Mr Henderson thanked all the sponsors for the event, including Puffing Billy Railway Station, Emerald Mitre 10 and Barry Plant, and Ferntree Gully Nissan among others.
“We are definitely grateful for their support and the support of the local community that came out and supported such a worthy cause,” he said.
“We’ve already started planning for this year’s event and we hope to match the $50,000, if not beat it.”
Planing for this year’s Fun Run with Puffing Billy has already started, with it set to take place in late November.
