Relay teams still raise thousands

THE teams that raised the most for the Bendigo Relay for Life over the past two years were recognised in a special presentation last Tuesday.

Though the Relay was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many teams still managed to raise awareness of cancer, and thousands of dollars for the Cancer Council.

The highest fundraising team was Domain Village, consisting of residents of the Junortoun retirement village, who raised $11,000.

Faye Cook, who described herself as the team’s pusher, said they were able raise money through trivia nights and donations from residents.

“Obviously last year we couldn’t do as many because of COVID, but we probably had two trivia nights,” she said. “We always raise at least $5000 at these trivia nights.

“It’s totally from people within my village, they are just fantastic, they support it really well.”

Teams who raised over $5000 were presented with trophies, including Brave Hearts, Pink Ladies, Cancer’s No Game and Team Justice.

The total raised in Bendigo over the last two years was just under $107,000.

Bendigo Relay for Life chair Teresa Jones said it was great to be able to recognise the work being done by Relay supporters.

“Domain Village are a retirement village so there’s a lot of people and a lot of activities and they do very well,” she said.

“But the other teams, even the little teams that don’t get to $5000, they’re as important as the big ones because you’ve got to start from somewhere.

“It’s still awareness no matter what you do. Just to ask someone to buy a raffle ticket for the Cancer Council is awareness.”

Ms Jones said the committee is hopeful of holding a condensed one-day Relay for Life on Sunday, 28 August.