THE weather may have been wet and windy but that did not dampen the spirit of business angels who still turned out to help the Leukaemia Foundation help local families.
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The annual Angels at Work fundraiser, where business people dress in angel wings, officially started on Friday with a corporate breakfast at Diggies at North Beach, which will itself keep a collection tin for patrons in coming days.
And Chris Wade, from Remondis, showed an angelic level of generosity, on both a personal and business level, when he made the highest bid of $500 for a Joern Rohde Photography image of an angelic snow-covered figure that many would remember from the Calgary Olympics.
Mr Rohde, of Whistler in Canada, is the brother-in-law of Debbie Reali, of Impact Art, who donated the item for auction
He is the principal photographer for the Whistler Traveller magazine and an exhibition of his work was shown at an Art for Heart exhibition of art and photography Mrs Reali held in Wollongong last November to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.
She is planning to do that again this year and was inspired to do so because of a six-year-old niece named Jessica, who was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia) in September 2013.
While she underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatments in Brisbane, her family were supported by the Leukaemia Foundation while they lived away from their Lennox Heads home for 10 months. Mrs Reali hopes her fundraising efforts will provide similar support for Wollongong families going through similar challenges. Mr Wade had already given a donation of $2000 from Remondis prior to the auction and his $500 bid was a personal contribution, not only because he loved the image auctioned by Daniel Hastings, of MMJ.
He said Remondis and its 80 personnel collected waste from virtually every household in the Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama area every week and he knew there would be many people facing challenges, such as blood-related cancers.
He said the company wanted to support the community the business served.
Other successful bidders on other items during the auction were Vi Blazevska, of ANZ Bank, who was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma in December which was followed by three months of intensive chemo.
And Merrylord Harb, of West Street Psychology, made a winning bid after also giving a $1000 donation on behalf of the practice.
Leukaemia Foundation regional manager Nina Field said prior to Friday’s breakfast $12,000 had already been donated at other business events in Shellharbour and through online sponsorship of registered angels.
She said because of the weather business angels had been handed their wings and collection tins for a whole week and would be popping up everywhere until Friday.
There is then an Angels at Work Market at Reddall Reserve on May 30 after a Paddle Like An Angel event organised by JPD Surf at dawn.
Further information and registrations at www.facebook.com/angelsatwork100?fref=ts and http://www.everydayhero.com.au/event/angelsatwork15.
