Students donate to Oncology Department

Students taking part in the Western Bulldogs Leadership Project have donated $500 to the East Grampians Health Service Oncology Department.

Mable Molloy from Ararat College, Ashlee Medlyn from St Arnaud Secondary College and Madelyn Barber, Genevieve Blake, Rebecca Lee and Neve O’Shannessy, all from Stawell Secondary College, visited the Oncology Department to present the cheque to EGHS Oncologist Dr Craig Carden and EGHS Director of Finance Tony Roberts.

The Western Bulldogs established the Western Bulldogs Leadership Project in 2013, and it offers unique opportunities for young people to build confidence, make new friends and develop skills that will enable them to become future leaders in their community.

Participant Madelyn Barber said the Western Bulldogs Leadership Project allowed them to help their communities with issues that they were passionate about; try to solve them, prevent them or develop awareness in their community.

She said it also helped young leaders make an impact within the community.

The program ran over six months, with participants undertaking workshops in both Ararat and Stawell, attending camps and the Western Bulldogs AFL matches.

The 130 participants came from across the state, with each local government area having about 20 young people involved. For the first time the Central Grampians Group was involved and included students from Ararat, Stawell, Halls Gap and St Arnaud.

“Within our council group we made four separate groups to each choose an issue in the community to work on,” Ms Barber said.

“Our group chose cancer because we all felt something personal about it and we all know someone who has been suffering cancer and feel deeply about it.

“We think that every little bit of money will help this serious medical illness.”

The funds raised by the students will go towards an AccuVein Vein Finder for the Oncology Department.

“This equipment helps find veins on the surface of the skin and will be vital to patients undergoing cancer treatment in the Oncology Department,” EGHS chief executive Nick Bush said.

“We are very grateful to the students for donating funds to EGHS. The leadership qualities and community spirit shown by them all is commendable.”

The students raised the funds through a raffle, with the major prizes being a Western Bulldogs jersey signed by the 2016 premiership team, a hamper and a load of wood.

“We would like to thank Ararat Rural City Council, Northern Grampians Shire Council, Central Grampians LLEN and all the business who donated to our hamper, we couldn’t have done it without you,” Ms Barber said.

“To the Western Bulldogs for making this program possible, we have all gained so much from this program and thoroughly appreciate the quality of leadership from our mentors, and a huge thank you to our parents and everyone for supporting us.”