Tags: Fundraiser. The TREK 4 KIDZ rally. Not for profit. Charity events. Queensland
GRANDI’S BACK
In a recent issue, I wrote about a local great-grandmother who was about to join her son and his partner on a seven-day car rally to help raise funds for the Starlight Foundation and now I am pleased to let everyone know that she has returned safe and sound but with a very determined comment. ‘It was fun and I’m glad that I went but I certainly don’t want to do it again,’ Lyn Auger (Rally Name “Grandi”) told me.
Featured Image(above): 5 Thursday 23rd outside Repco Toowoomba putting in a new radiator
The TREK 4 KIDZ rally that took Lyn, Stewart and Val through much of New South Wales and a part of Queensland in their old but trusty Lexus began in Port Macquarie on August 17th and after heading north to Toowoomba through many out of the way tracks, made its way down to Goulburn, arriving there on August 24th. Lyn described how, with Stewart and Val in the front for the whole journey, she had a very comfortable ride despite the rough roads. ‘Stewart drove all the way during the rally and I occupied my time taking photos,’ said Lyn. ‘I was constantly calling for Stewart to stop hitting bumps so I could hold the camera still but I guess that was probably not going to happen on some of those roads,’ she added.
11 End of Rally, cars assembling to drive into Goulburn.
The intrepid “Grandi” told me that the Lexus did suffer some problems along the way including needing a radiator replacement in Toowoomba and a couple of sets of springs and shockies. ‘When we needed to replace the radiator, Stewart did the job while we were parked in the main street of Toowoomba. It was a bit amusing for anyone who saw us,’ Lyn pointed out. ‘Another particularly funny incident was to do with the rule about having to have lights on when driving through the dusty roads. We got a call from another competitor telling us that our lights weren’t on so Stewart stopped and got out for a look but the lights were working just fine.
It didn’t take us long to realise that it was a way of getting ahead of us,’ recalled Lyn. As is always the case with these types of events, the camaraderie which Lyn mentioned was the usual mix of fun and practical jokes combined with the more serious business of getting from one point to another while obeying the rules and always looking out for one another. Lyn commented that she was devastated by the conditions, both to the land and livestock, that had been caused by the drought. When I spoke to “Grandi” after her return, she told me that at last count, the event had raised about $170,000 and still counting.
2 Tues 21st driving over the Dividing Range the drought is evident.
She made a point of expressing her thanks to sponsors Harcourts, Remax, Nobel and Davis and others such as the Watercolour Working Together Group and her garden club who had helped her team to raise over their initial target of $3,000. Before I left this intrepid adventurer to plan her next adventure, she asked me to make sure that I let everyone know that, “Grandi Lyn says that anyone over seventy has to go on a rally.”
This year, I was hoping I would be able to report that this goal had been achieved and am very sad to instead have to write about this setback in PNG. However, the PNG cases highlight the importance of continuing the vaccination program. Smallpox is the only human disease ever eradicated. Let’s make polio the second. Join the fight on World Polio Day 24 October 2018. Join the Rotary Club of Bribie Island who has registered their webinar as a World’s Greatest Meal to help End Polio and know that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will add $2 to every dollar that you raise towards Rotary’s End Polio Campaign.