Community
14 November, 2023
Stripping off for charity
ONE year after its release, the nude calendar to raise funds for prostate cancer support in the region, She’ll be Right Mate, has reached its fundraising goal of $50,000 with all proceeds going to COUCH to improve services for prostate cancer patients.
Originally released in October 2022 by calendar organiser Glenda Crosbie in partnership with COUCH, the She’ll be Right Mate calendar featured prominent FNQ men going nude to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer in the region and reached its fundraising goal of $50,000 on October 26 at the northern beaches Connoisseurs Luncheon.
The calendars were available at outlets like Alive Pharmacy, BCF and Cairns Hardware.
“Before we launched She’ll be Right Mate, there was no support services for men with prostate cancer in Cairns,” Ms Crosbie said. “There is now a monthly morning and night meeting for prostate cancer patients through COUCH.
“We had incredible success with the launch in October last year and on Thursday, October 26 we finally reached our $50,000 goal.
“We held a big raffle at the luncheon, and we were $2000 short, but an anonymous donor said they would pay the balance.”
The calendar which featured prominent local men like race caller Bluey Forsyth, handyman Chris Crosland and former navy diver David Ince, have supported the creation of a prostate cancer support group which holds monthly meetings at COUCH, and all funds will go toward prostate cancer care support packages, support to the PCFA Prostate support group and marketing campaigns raising awareness on prostate cancer. “Reaching this goal has been amazing, the help from people to get us there through donations and some going out there and selling a couple calendars, it all adds up,” Ms Crosbie said.
“COUCH have put up a plan of where these funds will go to specialists, support packages for patients going through financial hardships and next year we’ll be holding a new fundraiser, so stay tuned.”
Ms Crosbie encouraged the community to keep donating to prostate cancer and for men to get checked.
“The reason why it’s called ‘She’ll be Right Mate’ it’s because, no, it won’t, we need for men to stop saying it’ll be OK and go get checked,” she said.
“You can still donate to COUCH by giving them a call and put an offer on the few calendars we have left.”
