Ocean Grove mates throw the goggles on for Starlight Super Swim

A SEXTET of Ocean Grove friends are diving in this month to change the lives of sick children in hospitals by swimming 100km to raise money for the Starfish Children’s Foundation.

Josh Lange, Will Jordan, Gus Benson, Shaun Bradley, Nathan James and Tom Randone (The Doggy Paddlers) will this February take part in the Starlight Super Swim Challenge, a fundraising campaign that has raised $5.8 million in the past four years for sick children in Australian hospitals.

Using play, social connection and creativity, the Starlight Children’s Foundation supports young people during some of their toughest times, positively changing their healthcare experience so they can better manage their pain.

Team member Josh Lange said the ‘Doggy Paddlers’ were motivated to make a difference in their own backyard and were inspired to get involved after seeing the great work the Foundation did.

“For me personally, I’ve been very lucky with my health and have never had to deal with anything like what these kids have and continue to go through,” Lange said.

“After coming across Starlight and various other foundations who are supporting sick kids and their families, I realised that not everyone is not as fortunate as I was.

“If swimming cab contribute to making their treatment and recovery a little bit easier, then it’s the easiest decision I can possibly make.”

By swimming at their local pool in Ocean Grove and venturing out towards Leisurelink in Waurn Ponds, the group have raised a total of $1,623 and are already over $1000 above their original fundraising goal.

“The support so far has been amazing, it’s far exceeded our expectations and we are so thankful to our family and friends for chipping in some dollars to help out,” Lange said.

“Our goal is to obviously get to that 100km milestone by the end of the month but the boys are smashing it out already.

“If we get to that milestone early, we will just keep pushing as far as we can go.

“You never know when you might benefit from the great work that the Starlight Foundation does and we think it’s really important to continue to support these types of causes.”

To donate to the team’s fundraising page, head to superswim.org.au/t/doggy-paddlers