Fundraiser up for national nod

FOLLOWING a successful initiative aimed at gathering money to upgrade Creswick’s health service, the person who headed the campaign has been shortlisted for Fundraising Institute of Australia’s Excellence in Fundraising Awards.

Bob Orr, chair of the Creswick Health Upgrade Appeal Committee tasked with raising shortfall funds for the town’s hospital and residential aged care facility, is up for the Fundraising Champion of the Year category.

He said the award to him is an acknowledgement of the committee’s work as a whole.

“Our fundraising effort was really a team effort and a lot of people contributed to our success in reaching our appeal target,” he said.

“We explained the project to the community well and were able to tap into a number of funding bodies for assistance. We had the right people.”

Mr Orr previously served as president of the hospital and was became the chair of the 12-person fundraising committee following its launch in late March.

On the board with the hospital between 1976 until the mid-2010s, Mr Orr is no stranger to calling on the community to support the health service.

“I was involved in the fundraising to save our hospital in the early 1990s,” he said. “At that time, the government planned to close the hospital and we raised $1 million to save it.

“Earlier on, I was involved with finding the funding to establish our John Curtin Aged Care facility in the mid-1980s.

The awards have been running for 25 years, with the winners to be announced during a gala presentation in Brisbane on Thursday 29 February.