By Tanya Steele
Woori Yallock resident Ebony Rait was ecstatic with her fundraising result for the MS Walk, Run and Roll for 2023 and has been astounded by the level of support from the community.
“The fundraiser became so much bigger than expected and it was all worth it,” she said.
Ms Rait has raised over 3000 dollars and is still shocked at how generous people have been.
Ms Rait did the 5km run and a 5km walk on Sunday 21 May with family and friends joining in as well, she said the run was just the icing on the cake and that she felt many different emotions throughout.
“There is a sense of accomplishment that we get the chance to make a difference to this cruel disease and the people it affects,” she said.
Ms Rait had been fundraising money and selling raffle tickets for the last few months to raise funds for the MS foundation and has had beautiful prizes donated by business big and small.
“I’ve been really surprised by how generous everyone has been, especially the smaller business,” she said.
The cause is close to the heart as Ms Rait’s sister Maddi was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at age 25 during Covid.
“Treatment so far has been going well and she is an amazing person, at the moment it is once a month,” she said.
It will be the second time Ms Rait will participate in the MS Walk Run Roll event and this year Ms Rait wanted to take fundraising a bit further and turned to her football club for support.
“My club helped me with the idea to make it bigger and it went off like wildfire,” she said.
The raffle contributed to the fundraising efforts and the Coldstream FNC drew the winner on Saturday 20 May at 7.30 pm.
The club posted on social media that they wish Ms Rait nothing but the best and couldn’t wait to watch her smash this run for her sister.
Ms Rait did the run and walk with family and friends and said seeing such a large group of people being so positive and fighting for the cause was incredible.
“It is so important to fundraise, to raise awareness and to fund research for changes in treatments, it has given people diagnosed with MS a future,” she said.
