The Lions Club of Beaudesert were granted $2,000 to help pay for rashies for local Grade One and Prep students at the Bendigo Bank’s Community Pitch Night.
They were one of nine community groups who received a total of $13,180 in funding through the Community Bank Canungra & District, one of Bendigo’s many community owned bank branches.
In her Pitch to the Bank Directors, Lions Club President Janice Pellinkhof read a parody of Dorothea McKellar’s poem We Love a Sunburnt Country, with words changed to express the need for rashies for young children.
“This started many years ago when one of our members’ children came home from school and said their friend wasn’t able to swim because they didn’t have a rashie. Their family couldn’t afford one,” said Janice.
Since then, the Lions Club of Beaudesert has provided approximately 200 rashies to children attending many local schools in the region.
Janice said the $2,000, along with money received from other sponsors and fundraising during the year, will help them to extend the number of shirts they are able to provide and will also enable the Club to provide long sleeve rashies in 2024.
Canungra & District Community Bank Chairperson Janine Rockliff congratulated all of the community groups on their inventive and entertaining pitches, which saw one group dress as Christmas trees and the return of the ‘Fairy Golfmother’.
“We want the towns of Canungra and Beaudesert to know that we support the community,” she said.
“The more people who bank with our Bendigo bank branch the more we can give back.”
“Our franchise agreement is that 80% of our profits go back to the community and that is exactly what we are doing here tonight.”
“We love that we are contributing to sun and water safety for students, as well as the many other projects we have been able to support tonight.”
