A special donation
Stawell and district students will have increased capacity to participate in community events with the availability of a new vehicle.
ACE Radio Horsham general manager Brendan O’loughlin presented Skene Street School students, staff and community with a speciallyequipped bus on Saturday.
The donation was part of a regional Victorian rally to support Variety – The Children’s Charity, involving about 140 participants in 35 vehicles.
“You can see the charity makes a massive difference, not only to the children, but also their families – whether it’s through social support aids, learning aids, or other assistance such as mobility,” Mr O’loughlin said.
“Variety has a way of helping people from all walks of life.”
Among rally participants were three teams in three vehicles representing the ACE Radio network – one of them including Mr O’loughlin, engineering manager Ray Baker and presenter Jon Vertigan.
Neighbouring station general managers Stephen Jones, 3HA at Hamilton, and Paul Gadsden, 3SH Swan Hill, are also among the ACE Radio representatives to participate in the rally.
The route started at Docklands on Friday and journeyed through Bendigo to Halls Gap before heading north to Yarrawonga and ending at Whitfield, in the High Country, on Monday.
ACE Radio was due to make a donation worth $75,000 to Variety during the rally, raised from various initiatives including a raffle.
Mr O’loughlin said the rally attracted benefits for the region – and participants.
“As part of our visit into the Halls Gap region, not only did we have 140 people supporting the local community with accommodation, fuel, food and wine; but with the assistance of Grampians Tourism, we arranged dinner at the Halls Gap Zoo with Flame Brothers catering,” he said.
“Variety has a real vision about spreading the love and supporting communities during the visit, but also ensuring people who come through a region come back again in the future.
“They can’t necessarily dine out at the zoo again – but it was a pretty special night, and what a unique experience to share on our way through our region.”
Mr O’loughlin said the rally ‘downsized the pressure’ of the traditional Variety bash.
“The bash will still run, but the rally is a chance to get a taste of the Variety way of doing things, on a smaller scale,” he said.
“All funds raised were distributed in communities in regional areas of Victoria – it is a real chance to give back.”
ACE Radio, including The Weekly Advertiser and radio stations 3WM and MIXX FM, is a major supporter of the charity.