Swimming for a purpose

TORQUAY’S Pam Hacking is well on the way to surpassing her $500 fundraising target for the Starlight Foundation’s Super Swim challenge and she is less than halfway through the month-long campaign.

Having set herself a goal of swimming 20km by the end of February, Ms Hocking’s target also looks set to fall sooner than she anticipated, with her already clocking up 8km in the pool.

“I swim every day and thought I might as well keep swimming and do something useful and ask my friends and relatives to chuck in $20, $50, whatever it might be. I wanted to raise $500 and at the moment I have raised $459, and that’s only with half a dozen people, so I’m pretty impressed,” she said.

Ms Hacking is one of hundreds of people across the country who have committed to raising funds for the charity that has a mission to brighten the lives of sick kids and their families across Australia.

“The Starlight Foundation does such a wonderful job in terms of looking after kids and taking them away from their hospital bed for a while to get a bit of a reprieve,” Ms Hacking said.

The keen swimmer hopes to raise well over her intended target as the more money that is raised for the foundation means more children and their families get to benefit from the generosity.

“I don’t personally have any connection to the Starlight Foundation or to kids who are sick, but I do have other friends who regularly visit the Children’s hospital in Melbourne and it’s nice to see that it’s available to them and their families.”

To support the Starlight Foundation and Pam Hacking’s swim, head to superswim.org.au/pam-hacking