The Upper Yarra SES had a roaring night at the Warburton Golf Club for its Comedy for a Cause fundraiser on Saturday 15 November.
The night was a great turnout for the unit, with 125 people rocking up and over $8000 in funds raised through ticket sales, helping the Upper Yarra SES inch closer to purchasing crucial rescue equipment.
Upper Yarra SES unit controller Hannah Brunton said it was a great night with a large amount of newcomers turning up to the event.
“It was really really great because we had a lot of community there that was external to the SES so people who were basically strangers to us.
“So it was a really great opportunity for us to meet some of our neighbours and people who we turn up to help in a social and fun way,” she said.
The night was led by MC Matt, with comedians Andrew Portelli performing the opener and Nick Capper doing the headliner.
“We had Andrew as our opener comedian, he was very entertaining and he had some great crowd engagement.
“Then Nick was our headliner and he was also really good,” she said.
The event’s success was a relief for Ms Brunton after two of the three Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program (VESEP) grants they were relying on to cover equipment costs were rejected.
“We were hoping that the ticket sales would be to offset a grant that we’d applied for, but we found out last week we weren’t successful for that grant. So now we need to pay for that in full,” she said.
The Upper Yarra SES recently purchased a new truck which will be dedicated to mountain bike rescues and assisting ambulances when patients are in hard to access spots.
“We do get quite a lot in that area, whether it’s mountain bikes, dirt bikes, pretty much anybody that has an injury on any surface that is not asphalt or concrete, we get called in to help to transport that person back out to the ambulance.”
The truck will be fitted with four new radios and a range of specialised tools.
“If we were to get called out to a mountain bike job, and as an example, if the person was entangled in the chain or anything like that, it’s the small hand tools to be able to break that.”
Ms Brunton said the four radios were essential for communication with other emergency service crews.
“The radios we were looking to purchase because when we’re doing these carryouts, we often have to split into groups.
“We have enough radios for one per vehicle, but when we’re working with other emergency services, we can’t always get on to the same channels.”
The success of the Comedy for a Cause event meant the unit were able to cover for half of what the grant would’ve been paid for.
“So it is almost half of what we need to get that list of equipment, which is super helpful,” Ms Brunton said.
She thanked the Warburton Golf Club for hosting their event.
“Their staff are incredible. They literally let us come in, take over their facility, use it for what we need.
“We absolutely couldn’t do it without the support of the golf club. They’re really great people,” she said.
Alongside the comedy, silent auctions and raffles also took place on the night, with plenty of items donated from local businesses going to lucky audience members.
Ms Brunton thanked Seville Tractors, Sanders Apples, Oasis Air Conditioning and Solar, Britannia Creek Soaps, Diamond Boots Australia, Lucky Kids Equine and Warburton Golf Club.
