It was a bittersweet day in Canberra on Wednesday as Red Nose celebrated the end of 12 months as Vikings Group Charity of the Year.
It’s been a phenomenal year for Red Nose in Canberra and the partnership has been beyond anything the Red Nose team could have ever imagined, not only in terms of fundraising, but in raising awareness of the organisation.
Special thanks to Vikings’ marketing team – Beth Gooch, Blake Henman and Kaila Dunn – and all the staff, led by CEO Anthony Hill and the Vikings Clubs Board.
To celebrate the end of this incredible partnership, Vikings hosted a small morning tea where they presented Red Nose CEO Theron Vassiliou with a cheque for $80,000.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be here today on behalf of Red Nose accepting this cheque for $80,000 from the Vikings Group,” Mr Vassilliou said.
“This substantial amount of money is the result of a fabulous community partnership between our two organisations. A year ago the Vikings Board and leadership boldly committed to this initiative with Red Nose – and then staff and club members have embraced fundraising activities wholeheartedly, a credit to our respective communities and our brands.
“In many respects, our two organisations have similar parallels; grass roots community organisations that have been around for around 40 years, working diligently for our respective causes,” he said.
According to ACT and NSW Community Fundraising Manger Lisa Ridgley, Red Nose in the ACT conducts about 70 Safe Sleeping classes to new and expecting parents and their families each year, plus a comprehensive counselling service for bereaved families.
“In the ACT alone we receive on average two new calls for counselling support every week. Over the past two weeks, while we’ve all been complaining about minor things in life such as the cold, frost on the windscreen and that irritating cough that won’t go away, our counsellors took 10 new calls from local families who experienced the heartbreaking loss of a baby.
“That’s 10 local babies who will never reach their full potential and 10 local families whose lives have been torn apart forever,” Ms Ridgley said.
Grassroots, local level fundraising partnerships, such as the Vikings Group Charity of the Year, is vital to Red Nose. It is our connection to the local community and the people we support every day.
