Scare Cancer Fundraising Ball Wrap Up
A wicked good time was had by all
The scary brave souls that entered the door
Fancy dressed, they wore it well
Their true identity no one could tell
After 3 date changes, the Kids with Cancer Foundation “Scare Cancer Ball” finally came to life on Saturday 30th April at the Castle Hill RSL Club in Sydney. With nearly a 4 year gap between what was supposed to be our “bi-annual” event, our team produced our best Scare Cancer Ball yet.
The goal this year was to bring more fun, entertainment, laughs and more interactive engagement to our guests whilst at the same time striving to raise funds to reach our goal of $108,000. This amount was our target to cover the first year of a 2 year commitment made by Kids with Cancer Foundation to fund the position of a National Study Co-ordinator (Joanne Chuah) to work alongside Associate Professor David Ziegler at Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick, to be part of developing a world first, ground-breaking trial of a new treatment for a common childhood brain cancer called Ependymoma. Paediatric Ependymoma is the third most common brain tumour in children.
When the doors opened at 6:30pm, we were delighted to find ourselves mingling with Princess Peach & Mario, IT and his girlfriend, Poison Ivy, Superman & Supergirl, Witches & Warlocks, Spooky Clowns, the Teletubbies and really excited to catch up with the Ghostbusters and Marshmellow Man. Everyone went to an outstanding effort, which set the vibe for the evening right from the beginning.
There were over 50 silent auctions items, many vouchers and items donated for our Buy It Now and Restaurant Row corners and Interactive games whereby the guests could join in and win major prizes like a holiday, a glamping weekend, memorabilia, a jewellery voucher and a Good Guys voucher. The generosity of businesses near and far, from family members and friends was overwhelming.
We were honored to have our very good friend and long-time acquaintance Dr Luciano Dalla-Pozza drive all the way from Canberra to show his support. Dr David Ziegler and his lovely wife Miriam drove the distance to tell our guests how important this evening was and our local ex-mayor Dr Michelle Byrne who will always be part of our family.
The evening ran like clockwork with everyone finding themselves joining in the laughter thanks to our amazing MC for the night, Rob Shehadie. Starting with Mimes and Magicians and ending with everyone on the dance floor busting a groove to awesome music from the Jon Elms Trio Band.
We finished the evening with the big reveal, that only due to everyone digging deep, to the businesses that sponsored and donated, to our friends and family and volunteers, we surpassed our goal. We came into the event needing to raise just over $30,000 to reach our goal of $108,000 and ended up raising $45,000 on the night taking our total fundraising efforts to just over $128,000!!!
On behalf of kids with cancer and their families, our Team would like to extend our sincere thank yous to everyone that was involved in the success of the Scare Cancer Fundraising Ball for 2022. YOU have made a difference and TOGETHER we will continue to make a difference in the lives of these kids and their families.
We look forward to seeing what is in store at the next Scare Cancer Ball in 2024!
THANK YOU !
