THE Ronald McDonald House Great Gatsby Ball next Saturday promises to be a great night, but it will also be an emotional evening.
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After years in the planning by an incredibly dedicated team of volunteer board members, the ball will be an anticipation of the opening of the house, which will take in its first families by the end of the year.
This is a project that has engaged the community at all levels - from major sponsors such as Electrolux, who threw their hat in the ring in the early days promising to provide all the whitegoods for the house, to the ladies from the local quilting groups, who are creating beautiful themed quilts for the rooms to make children and their parents feel at home.
In organisations people come and go.
But the core group of people who believed in this project from the beginning several years ago - and will be there to see this through to the opening - are to be congratulated for their passion and commitment to see this amazing project come to fruition.
There have been some frustrating and expensive delays along the way for the board, including issues with the positioning of the house and the cost of preserving trees on the site that were part of the conditions of building, but they ploughed on never wavering from the goal.
Making the decision to include units for families of children and adolescents with a mental illness has been a game changer and makes our house in Orange unique.
Hand in hand with this project has been the establishment of the ball as a premier event on the social calendar.
Guests who attend have already made a commitment to supporting the house before the evening begins.
But to those individuals, businesses, community groups and clubs who have contributed you can truly say you have been part of creating something that can make a real difference to the lives of sick children and their parents.