Fun run fundraiser ready to return

AFTER two years of online events, the Ballarat Foundation’s Run for a Cause annual charity event is set to return to an in-person format.

The event launched last week and will take place at Victoria Park and surrounds on Sunday, 20 November.

Ballarat Foundation’s CEO, Andrew Eales said it’s exciting to have the run be face-to-face again.

“The unique aspect of Run for a Cause is that it brings people together to fundraise from a point of view of being active,” he said.

“There’s a real sense of a community celebration so keeping this within Victoria Park is really going to add to that atmosphere.”

Participants can take part in the McGrath five-kilometre run and Showbiz Cinemas 10-kilometre run while the Y Kids Dash one-kilometre run will be available for children under 12.

The event village will play a larger role than in previous runs, and Mr Eales said it will bring an almost “carnival atmosphere” to the day with children’s activities, food and giveaways.

Ballarat Foundation took over the running of the annual Christmas Appeal earlier this year from 3BA, and the funds raised from Run for a Cause will go towards that charity’s four beneficiaries.

The organisations are Anglicare, the Salvation Army, Uniting Ballarat, and St Vincent de Paul, and the latter’s president Kevin Elliott said the money will go towards helping local families in need.

“We got a lot of food out of the Winter Appeal which just finished up and it’s great to know there’s more to come. Hopefully we’ll get about four pallets of food worth from this one,” he said.

“Some of the people we get in, some of them haven’t got two sticks to rub together so this will go a long way in providing physical food for them.”