In January this year, Hamish Jollow (22) decided to embark on a Swim Challenge to raise funds for the Hydrocephalus Support Association. This cause is close to Hamish’s heart, as his young brother Ash (21) has been living with Hydrocephalus from the age of fifteen.
Hamish is no stranger to physical challenges as he is a rugby player with the Warringah Rats Club and also a personal trainer running his own business, “True Movement Training”, specialising in strength training. Swimming was a natural challenge for Hamish to embark on, as he is a keen surfer and has called Mona Vale on the Northern Beaches home for many years. With the aim of just raising as much money as he could his physical target was to complete all of the Pittwater Ocean Swims at Newport, Bilgola, Mona Vale, Palm to Whale Beach and Avalon, which to date he has done.
Hamish listed his challenge on gofundraise.com.au and within a few days had already raised a $1,000 for the HSA. His final target on the site was raised to $5,000, however, he then smashed that target and raised a total of over $8,000 dollars! It cannot be over emphasised what an incredible effort this was by this motivated young man. this sum was the largest single donation to the HSA raised by an individual person over the past twelve months.
The HSA as you are probably aware is entirely run by volunteers from the Chairman down, no wages are paid to anyone. Volunteering can be challenging when time constraints on families can be overwhelming, however, if we could encourage just another six to ten of our supporters around Australia, like Hamish, to organise their own fund-raising events within their own communities it would hugely increase the amount of funds available to support those living with Hydrocephalus, our members, and continued support of The Shunt Registry. It is also a fantastic way of raising community awareness of Hydrocephalus.
Fun runs, quiz nights, T-shirt sales, bike rides are just some of the events that can be held to raise much needed funds.Our fund-raising team is always available to discuss any ideas you may have for raising funds in your community, and can help with promoting your events on our Social Media and web sites.