Troops rallied together earlier this year in a fundraising effort to get people with cancer on the road to recovery.
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This week the $45,000 raised during a rally drive from Orange to Uluru was handed over to Western Care Lodge, where it will go towards the upkeep of the accommodation facility on the Bloomfield site of the Orange hospital.
The huge charity effort was made possible through the work of John and Terry Davis and the team at Rotary Club of Orange Daybreak, who for the first year came onboard to support the annual Cruisin’ Along rally.
Terry Davis said after 10 years of organising the drive with his brother, attending a Rotary event convinced him they’d be a good match.
“They seemed to know what they were doing,” Terry Davis said.
Another big change this year was extending the duration of the trip to two weeks and heading further away from the Central West to extend awareness of the cause.
“It was hard work but we had a great time,” Terry Davis said.
This year, 27 cars went north out of Orange enroute to Bourke before heading west towards Birdsville, north again though Boulia and finally to Alice Springs with the 59 participants they combinded camping, glamping and booking up motels along the way.
The trip was a success for almost everyone, with only two cars temporarily abandoned on the journey, one unfortunate driver facing a break down beyond repair on the first day in Nyngan, still well inside the state border.
The second abandoned vehicle made the 1500 kms to Birdsville, Queensland where the more than 30 hours on the road eventually proved too much and it refused to start.
Mr Davis said the cars differed in value from $2000 to $80,000, but no matter who their drivers were, from plumbers, doctors and pharmacists, 25 year olds to 70 year olds, man and woman came together to sleep under the stars at Jervois Station.
Swags, tents and cars were home for the night at the outback location 350 kms from Alice Springs.
During the rally’s time in the red centre, Orange pilot John Pullen and co-pilot John Henderson chartered 10 groups around Uluru and Kata Tjuta, donating the cost of the flights to the cause.
The four-seat plane followed the group right along the route, contributing $1900 to help make life more comfortable for cancer fighters.
Since it opened in November 2011, the lodge has housed over 2500 people receiving cancer treatment at the Orange hospital.
Western Care Lodge’s Jan Savage said when residents hear where funding has come from they are overwhelmed with gratitude.