By RUSSELL BENNETT
GEMBROOK’S Main Street was alive on Sunday morning as the Kids Fun Run with Thomas returned to town.
Held at the Puffing Billy Railways station for the past 13 years, the event started from modest beginnings with a group of Emerald Rotarians trying to find a way to raise money for children in need.
Now it’s a booming hills institution and one of its biggest fundraisers, raising over $400,000 for the paediatric ward at the Angliss Hospital and the fight against polio – just to name a couple of causes.
This year all the money raised went to CPEC – the Cerebral Palsy Education Centre in Glen Waverley.
The day itself involved children running in their age groups against Thomas the Tank Engine, free mystery bags, prizes and plenty of food and drink all among the hustle and bustle of the Gembrook Market.
But following on from last year’s event, there was another element to the fun run this year – kids raising money for kids.
Young Xavier Chapple and his sister Elisha raised more than $1300 between them for CPEC, while three-year-old Harrison Elliott raised a staggering amount – in excess of $1500 – for the centre and his friend Lyla, who suffers from cerebral palsy.
Harrison demanded his parents ask everyone he knew – family and friends – for donations, and he even produced online videos for the cause over four weeks.
This year, the ‘children raising funds for children’ aspect of the event alone raised more than $9500 – a truly astonishing achievement.
During the 2014 event 21 children raised more than $150 each.
When organisers drew a line under the fundraising competition, four individual fundraisers raised nearly $5000 between them.
2014 KIDS FUN RUN WITH THOMAS RESULTS – BOYS AND GIRLS WINNERS
Purple (three-years-old): Quintin Kelly and Lydia Gao
Orange (four-years-old): Jobe Davies and Airlie Taylor
Blue (five-years-old): Jensen Bowering and Lia Adams
Yellow (six-years-old): Xavier Potter and Alannah Finn
Red (seven and eight-years-old): Jack Ashcroft and Sasha Carroll
Green (nine to 12-years-old): Cy Hodge and Kayleb Monro (in a dead-heat) and Kayla Zunica.
