The Junee Poker Run had completely annihilated previous milestones with a jaw-dropping $42,000 donated during Can Assist’s meeting at the Junee Ex-Services Club last Thursday.
Poker Run representatives handed the cheque to a room of shocked Can Assist members who were blown away by the record breaking amount.
This is over 15 grand more than last years’cheque.
President of Junee Can Assist, Fiona Rynehart, said she was so surprised when they gate-crashed their meeting.
“The meeting all just stopped mid track and they all walked in with their shirts on and they had this cheque that was turned around and they wouldn’t show us the amount that was on the cheque,” she said.
“They started doing a speech about how special the 20th was and what a great reception they had, how many sponsors they had and then they turned around and said “and this is what we are giving you this year” and you could have knocked me over, oh my God, $42,000.
“I thought it was $28,000 they gave us last year and that is a huge amount of money but $42,000 is going to be able to help so many more people and we are also now going to investigate if there is other things that we can do to help our clients in the Junee Shire.
“There have been a few ladies diagnosed with breast cancer and we are going to see if we can do some more things for them now too. It’s one very big day when we do the Poker Run. It’s very exhausting but so worthwhile. It’s my second Poker Run I’ve done as President and the volunteers were amazing. I’ve got the books down pat now so we know what we have got to do.
“It was very, very good and as I’ve said previously, we cannot do without our volunteers. They are absolutely amazing and they go beyond to make sure that everything goes right on the day.
“I’ve sent the link off to head office in Sydney and it is going to be discussed at the Board meeting.
“Natalie Phillips (our ex-President) is now our Board rep with Can Assist in Sydney and she said she would like to discuss it with the Board members at the meeting. It is very special.
“It’s good for Junee and good for all the people we can help. Now we are getting ready to do to Mother’s Day street stall, raffle and barbecue. We are extending the time for it this year, starting between 7:00am and 8:00am and run until 2:00pm so we can catch more people at lunchtime so they can have their egg and bacon rolls and sausage sandwich for lunch. That will take place in the carpark at Junee IGA.
“We are very grateful to the sponsors who have helped us with the Poker Run this year. Junee Lamb, Brad’s Meats and a lot of people helped us out. It was amazing.”
During the meeting itself, Fiona said in her speech, “that is amazing. We can’t do without you guys, we love you guys on the committee and all your helpers. We are actually going to fund a lot of different things this year and help more people than what we have done before. We are looking at different things that we can fund and different people that we can help.”
President of the Poker Run, Tony Fitzgerald, spoke at the meeting, saying, “On behalf of all of us I would like to thank Can Assist again for all their efforts and what they’ve done for us over the years. We are going to present you with this cheque, but I’m not going to tell you, I’m just going to hold it up. Taa Daa, $42,000.”
Tony spoke to the Junee Independent, saying, “it’s a great achievement from all of us from our team and a big thank you to our sponsors and all the people that turned up to help us on the day. It’s a big team effort.”
Tony had mentioned to Can Assist that he wasn’t sure if they would make the same amount as last year, but it was marvellous to see the committee’s reaction when they found out it was way more.
“We were a bit gobsmacked really. Even our total number of what we received was about $17,000 more than last year and that was due to sponsorship and a few other little things that made us a bit of money along the way.
“It’s just outstanding. Can Assist was very surprised as was half of our committee members as half of them didn’t know about it. They were over the moon. They were very taken by the amount of money that we handed over to them.
“The Poker Run was another great success and another great year, again due to our committee, they have worked hard to get us where we are today. Hopefully next year will be as good.”
-Jack Murray
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