By Callum Ludwig
The 2022 Good Friday Appeal broke the record for most money raised, with a total of $22,328,154 including a remarkable $2,581,661 raised by regional and rural Australia of which most of the Upper Yarra is counted.
Over $421 million will go directly to the Royal Children’s Hospital as a result.
The Eastern 80 charity bike ride founded by Norm Orr was a large contributor to Warburton’s total, with over 70 participants at this year’s event on Saturday 19 February.
Mr Orr said they are three important components that make the Eastern 80 such a successful event: volunteers, walkers and riders.
“We were very pleased with the progress of our fundraising when we got to $10,000 (in early March 2022) and we then received donations to take us to $10,795 and last week another $150 which took us to just $55 short of $11,000,” he said.
“I posted an update on Facebook and one of our valued Eastern80 family Red Relish Cafe in Yarra Junction eagerly offered the $55 to take us to the fabulous $11,000.”
Mr Orr has set his sights on continuing their effort.
“Our Eastern80 family is a very dedicated band including your newspaper who give us great coverage every year and has helped us raise over $70,000 in our seven years of holding our event,” he said.
“We have our sights on reaching the $100,000 mark by our 10th event in 2025.”
Funds from this year’s Good Friday Appeal will go towards ground-breaking research, state of the art equipment and technology, education and family centred care programs. This year, funds will go directly to the Children’s Cancer Centre and CARES (4 Kids) which provides Cancer Allied Health Resources, Education and Supportive Care programs. The Children’s Cancer Centre sees approximately 1,400 patients a year, including 300 newly diagnosed patients per year.
