General News
21 July, 2023
St Augustine’s College students raise more than $20,000 for cancer
ST Augustine’s College students have raised an incredible $21,054 at the Cairns Relay for Life, becoming the Far North’s highest fundraiser to help Cancer Council Queensland beat their fundraising goal of $70,000.
Forty-one teams and 460 participants took to Barlow Park on Saturday last weekend for the Relay for Life to celebrate cancer survivors and help fundraise vital funds for Cancer Council Queensland’s services. The community came through surpassing the fundraising target with a total of $76,275.
The biggest contributor was the college with three teams raising $21,054, becoming the highest local fundraiser and fourth nationally.
“The event was heaps of fun, the energy was fantastic and there were a lot of crazy costumes and wigs,” said Tegan Marsden, business development specialist at Cancer Council Queensland.
“We completely beat our fundraising target which is fantastic,” she said.
“St Augustine’s had a fantastic fundraising achievement, and it shows that when a group of young people get together, there’s very little that they can’t achieve. We’re very thankful.”
The college had 53 students in three teams at the relay, seniors (year 12), year 11 and a mixed junior, whose competitiveness and passion for the cause led to an outstanding fundraising effort.
“We have two cancer survivors, Lachlan Mann-Jones and Troy McNeil (year 12), who participated in the Relay for Life this year, so they wanted to give their all,” said Christine Cross, director of mission at St. Augustine’s.
“One of our students Daan Fomiatti. He’s in grade 12 and he has done this for six years in a row. This year he raised $2970 solo, and he was recognised as the highest fundraiser of the whole event on Saturday night,” she said.
“The seniors took the trophy for the highest fundraising team with $12,000 and the combined total of funds by the three teams was $21,054.
“They had a lot of fantastic fundraising ideas (including a pizza lunch and bake sales) and that all brought an element of excitement to the school, so I’m extremely proud of them.”
Ms Marsden said the funds would contribute to a large range of services for Cancer Council Queensland clients.
“Our funds will go to help Cancer Council support the community through our accommodation services, transport to treatment service, wig and turban service, cancer counselling, psychology, financial and legal support, and research and advocacy for cancer patients,” she said. “This is a speechless moment, to the Cairns community from the bottom of our hearts, thank you, without your contributions we wouldn’t be able to support Queenslanders.”
