Charity ride hits the road

MEMBERS of the Male Bag Foundation made a visit to Ballarat Health Services last week to promote their upcoming fundraising ride and to distribute water bottles.

The Male Bag Foundation has come up with a novel idea – to supply water bottles to Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre at Ballarat Health Services – so they can distribute them to prostate cancer patients and to bring awareness to men’s prostate cancer.

Chair of the Male Bag Foundation Robert Glover said, “This visit is to distribute 100, one-litre water bottles to the hospital for patients being tested for prostate cancer is because it is required for them to drink a litre of water before their procedure, so for anyone who is waiting in the waiting room with our bottle, nurses will straight away recognise what the patient is there for.

“This is the second lot of one hundred bottles we have given away, other recipients include sporting bodies, the likes of football clubs.”

Through their fundraising, especially the postie bike rides, the Foundation has provided nearly $1 million for prostate cancer diagnostic medical equipment and specialist care.

The upcoming Foundation’s Big Ride between 20-28 October covers 2000km through Victoria, NSW and the ACT.

“Ballarat is our psychological headquarters, I ring Gay Corbett, who is the prostate cancer clinical consultant, and neurologist Lachlan Dodds, when we need clinical knowledge,” Mr Glover said.

Well-known local identity Peter Stevens is part of the backup team on the Male Bag ride to Wagga.

“We leave from Melbourne for Deniliquin and on to Wagga, which is one of the biggest centres in Southern NSW, then to Bathurst and on to Canberra where we will meet officials,” he said.

“The 3500-kilometre ride will take them nine days.

“All the riders and crew members pay their own way, so all the funds raised will go to prostate cancer awareness.

What we have done in Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland is we have assisted in the purchase of a machine which does the biopsy of the prostate, so we have put them in this hospital in the public sector and also the other centres mentioned and now one for the drought affected area in Wagga, which is one of the worst affected area for prostate cancer.

“We are also trying to get the Federal Government to support resources for men who have prostate cancer.”

The major sponsor is Australia Post and the ambassador for the ride is former AFL player and coach David Parkin.