Easter Bunny bouncing to BBQ

THE Easter Bunny will be seen out and about next weekend in Ballarat to raise funds for an annual cause led by members of the Lions Club of Ballarat.

On Saturday 30 March, the holiday icon will parade around the central business district and accompany the group’s fundraiser barbecue to take place the next day.

Organiser and Lions Club of Ballarat member Bill Sleep brought the event to Ballarat in 2012 and said it’s a fun experience for children and families.

“There’s a whole lot of excited children and people who just love the Easter Bunny,” he said.

“That’s the highlight of it for them, and when we go into the supermarket and businesses for donations, the staff also come out of the woodwork and there’s a lot of selfies.

“You’d have to see it to believe it. It’s beautiful.”

Mr Sleep will join the Easter Bunny in looking for donations, with cash to go towards the Australian Lions Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.

The chocolate-giving rabbit will be found on the Saturday at Bridge Street from about

9am before collecting donations at Ballarat Central and

wandering Creswick Road’s ALDI carpark.

The barbecue fundraiser is set to take place from 8am until noon the next day at the ALDI carpark, with the Easter Bunny to make an appearance from 10am before visiting other businesses.

Mr Sleep joined the local Lions in 2009 and ran a similar cause for about five years previously as a Lions member in Melbourne. He said the effort is supporting a cause close to him.

“It’s important to me because my one and only grandson was diagnosed at six with acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” he said.

“He’s had all the care and he’s now 16 years of age and totally clear. I got behind it for that reason. All the money goes direct to the organisation.”