Big year as Cars and Coffee grants extra wishes for kids
PLENTY of people were wishing Dubbo’s Cars and Coffee was on this month but even the city’s best pieces of motoring iron need a break, especially when so many have been cruising to Canberra for this year’s Summernats.
But all is not lost – the informal catch-ups resume on the first Sunday of February and no-one could be happier than Dubbo’s Make-a-wish crew who were the beneficiaries of fundraising from the 2018 events.
Dubbo Make-a-wish treasurer Lyn Everett said she was over the moon.
“Very happy,” Mrs Everett said of the $7500 the organisation received. “It will be wonderful to add to our fundraising.
“We grant wishes to children in the Dubbo and extended area to help make their lives a little easier when they’ve got a life-threatening disease,” she told Dubbo Photo
“The car enthusiasts have been very, very generous to us for the last few years – we love all the guys who are so good to us.”
She’s a fan of the synergy Cars and Coffee has when it comes to making dreams come through, with so many of the people who drive their vehicles to the monthly catch-up in so many cases driving the cars they’ve dreamed about for years.
She said those “big kids” have made their wishes come true by finding or restoring the cars they love.
“It’s lovely to think that the people who attend Cars and Coffee in Dubbo are giving money to support our kids in the 0 to 18-year-old age group; it’s nice to think older people are giving back into the community,” she said.
Long-time Make-a-wish volunteer Judy Hunt said the Cars and Coffee fundraising is a pleasant way to help find money to help kids who need just a little bit of magic in their lives.
“I like to be involved in raising these funds because it all goes to sick children to brighten their day when they’ve been through so much,” she explained.
Dubbo Cars and Coffee organiser Owen De Carle, along with wife Karen, spend almost all their Cars and Coffee time at the entrance to Victoria Park to collect the donations.
He said the participants are incredibly generous, often handing over $10 and $20 notes when the asking price is only a gold coin donation.
“I suppose this is the culmination of what we do during the year. It all goes towards this and we look forward to being able to hand over the cheque to Make-a-wish every year,” Mr De Carle said.
“I think Make-a-wish does a great job with the work they do for the kids that really need it. It takes a special sort of person to be able to donate their time and effort into doing that sort of stuff, and hats off to them.”