Honouring their father

Siblings Nadine Engel and Ian Clark have honoured their late father Max Clark on the 10th anniversary of his death by raising more than $20,000 for prostate cancer – the disease that took their father.

The November 10 fundraising event grew out of a simple sausage sizzle hosted by Nadine (pictured rigt with her father Max Clark & brother Ian Clark) at her work SAL Real Estate.

“In May we had a sausage sizzle to raise money for Do It for Dolly Day and I was looking for a way to honour and celebrate my dad and approached Vicki (Quinn) to see if we could do a sausage sizzle once a month for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia,” Nadine said.

While those higher up the management chain were happy to accommodate Nadine’s idea, they suggested going bigger and the idea of an auction was born.

The event could not have proceeded without the tremendous support of SAL Real Estate and Autocare Mount Gambier, coupled with local business who were extremely generous with auction items to ensure the night was a success.

Hosted at Blue Lake Golf Club, Nadine and Ian Clark, who runs Autocare Mount Gambier, worked together to put together a fantastic haul of auction items and around 100 people attended the night to bid on the variety of items.

“Everyone was so generous and we cannot thank people enough for that – both the people who donated items and those who attended – we are so grateful,” Nadine said.

The night also saw Limestone Coast Prostate Cancer Group representative Richard Harry give some insight into tackling prostate cancer, while local business leader Eddie Sakkers also shared his personal journey to date.

Nadine and Ian’s father was a foundation member of the Limestone Coast Prostate Cancer Support Group.

The final tally sat at $20,855 but Nadine felt the value of the evening went well beyond the fundraising total.

“It was amazing to raise that amount of money but it was the conversations I’ve had with people who have been affected by prostate cancer – that’s what I really loved,” she said.