VMMA Inc. and Freemasons Victoria
Were invited Guests of Cystic Fibrosis Victoria
To their 2009 Dinner Dance named "The Depths of Winter"
At the Melbourne Aquarium
On Saturday 20th June 2009
Which included the VMMA Public Cheque Donation of $45,038.85 to CFV
The VMMA received an invitation from Cystic Fibrosis Victoria to attend their 2009 Dinner Dance named "The Depths of Winter" to be held at the Melbourne Aquarium on Saturday 20th June 2009.
Unfortunately for the membership of the VMMA this CFV event was a sell out well before our invitation to attend as guests arrived, hence we were not in a position to promote the event within the membership even though a good number no doubt would have purchased tickets and once again assist CFV with raising the AWARENESS OF CF and much need funds.
This invitation did cause a number of our ladies a real dilemma, no leathers allowed, they need to get frocked up, shock horror.
Viv, Kaiser and Sharyn
The VMMA and Freemasons Victoria invited guests were Dean & Tracy, Brian & Vera, David & Vivienne, Chris & Sharyn and representing Freemasons Victoria - Board of Benevolence Trevor & Pat Burkitt and we had the support of our Patron M.W. Bro. John Wilson, PGM and Lois who joined with us for this special evening.
Trevor Snelling is CFV Grants, Marketing, Events and Appeals manager who played a major roll in the co-ordination of the Dinner Dance, his team leadership was evident during the evening for the programme was follow to a tee by the MC's Zara & Troy who are two of Australia's most experienced facilitators and corporate presenters.
L to R: Pat Burkitt, Dean, Trevor Burkitt & John Wilson. VMMA table 24 at the CFV Dinner Dance.
The evening commenced in the "Coral Atoll" room of the Melbourne Aquarium at 7.00 pm with Preprandals with the jelly fish along with entertainment in the foyer and time to preview the large array of items up for silent auction.
At 7.30 pm we were seated and the VMMA table was number 24, it was unfortunate that the tables only seated 10 with Trevor & Pat Burkitt being seated on table 25. It did not take long for Pat & Trevor to introduce themselves to table 25 and become part of that group.
The atmosphere was tremendous from the start and it was clear it would be a fun night with like minded people who are already aware of Cystic Fibrosis via in most cases family members, relations or friends who have CF.
Immediately the MC's for the evening Zara & Troy were introduced and took control of the evenings proceedings with a Lucky Door Prize which was a hand turned red gum bowl all the way from South Australia, wait for it YES it was won VMMA member Tracy on table 24, well that was a good start for the evening. Soon after that Zara asked who could answer the question were did the saying 65 Roses come from, yes our Vera had her hand up and answered the question perfectly.
Tracy won the lucky door prize. Zara with Vera who answered the question were did the saying 65 Roses come from?
The CEO of Cystic Fibrosis Victoria Stephen Murby was introduced and gave a very informative introduction to the evening with some surprising facts that CF numbers in Australia are growing (at first thought how can that be good!!!) Stephen then enlightened us that the birth rate of CF suffers has remained constant which proves that those who have CF are living longer (hence the increase in numbers) mainly due to the AWARENESS PROGRAMME that has allowed early diagnose and treatment of CF suffers.
One of the early methods of fundraising was the selling of only 65 roses at $50 each which entitled you to a lovely rose at the ending of the evening, but also a entry into a draw to win a diamond ring from Gary Halloway worth $1010, this was drawn immediately after all 65 roses were sold, sorry to report no one from the VMMA won the ring.
Whilst entree was being served each table had raffle tickets and the table that purchased the most tickets won a special prize, table 15 won the prize by purchasing $2400 worth of tickets from a table of 10 people, great effort.
Another fundraising method was a Tombola ticket sale with tickets being offered at $20 and $50, this proved to be very successful with a brisk trade all night at the Tombola table.
Cystic Fibrosis Victoria Dinner Dance was packed to the rafters. Lois and Pat at the Dinner Dance.
During the evening "Cheeky Business" an experienced Jazz and Blues trio played a broad range of smooth Jazz and Blues music which surprisingly enticed a number of VMMA members to the dance floor, not sure if their movements were as smooth as the music!!!!
Also during the breaks in the programme the items on offer at the silent auctions steady increased in value, near the end of the silent auction for a holiday up on the Murray River Chris was escorted back to table 24 by a lovely young lady who desperately wanted the holiday.
Chris and Sharyn having yes a dance. Chris with his escort back at table 24.
Zara & Troy then introduced to everyone Mr Glenn Tebble, CFV Ambassador extraordinaire who sourced a majority of all donated items for the evening.
I am unable to express to you a true reflection of Glenn's presentation to us on the evening due to his personal real life challenges with CF.
Glenn has CF and enlightened us of the challenge he currently faces with advanced CF, it had been suggested to Glenn that he would most likely not leave the hospital again and attending the CFV Dinner Dance was very unlikely, Glenn dismissed that propaganda and did attend with his wheel chair and oxygen bottle and his lovely wife.
Glenn has been on the list for a double lung transplant for the past 2 years and whilst talking about that his mobile rang and he suggested that may be the hospital with news of a lung transplant but that could wait another 2 minutes for he has been waiting for over 2 years.
Many people reflected on Glenn's inspiration for life and understood the challenge he and his family are faced with and that the past 2 years of waiting for a double lung transplant have been extremely demanding.
Glenn spoke of sourcing donation items and that only 3 companies were unable to assist by providing some form of support to CF for which there is no cure.
CFV Ambassador Glenn Tebble with Zara talking frankly about his current challenge in life, what a inspiration to live.
I have personally reflected on Glenn's inspiration for life and how he shared his personal challenge with CF and his determination to continue that challenge all the way that I have decided to draw on his strength to hopefully live longer by changing my life style and loose weight, I have set the goal at 30 kilograms and will be seeking sponsorship from everyone for each kilogram lost, all money raised will be donated to CFV.
So when I come asking for your support for a donation for each of the 30 kilograms please reflect on Glenn's inspiration for life and those who suffer with CF.
The raffle tickets purchased by each of the 25 tables were in the barrel and the barrel girl spun the barrel and you would not believe it my ticket was drawn and I had instantly won Sharyn's Christmas present (well that's what I thought) but in reality I will take Sharyn for a break at Glen Harrow Garden Cottages, that should get me in the good books!!!!!
The silent auctions were closed off and some handsome amounts had been raised from all those donations from sponsors of CFV, I believe over $24,000 was raised on the evening.
At 10.30 pm Zara and Troy invited both Kaiser from CFV and Chris from the VMMA to the floor for a presentation of CF Awareness by Chris asking Kaiser a number of questions of which he answered after the Awareness presentation Chris proceeded with the VMMA presentation prior to the "Breathless" 8 Day Ride cheque presentation.
Pat & Trevor Burkitt and VMMA members being introduced.
Chris asked Trevor & Pat Burkitt to please rise and informed everyone that Trevor and Pat are this evening representing Freemasons Victoria - Board Of Benevolence who supported the "Breathless" 8 Day Ride by contributing $1 for $1 to a maximum of $15,000.
John & Lois Wilson were then asked to please rise and it was explained that John was the Grand Master of Freemasons Victoria who had the foresight to encourage and support the VMMA from its inception some 8 years ago and today continues that support along with his wife Lois as Patron of the VMMA.
Members of the VMMA were then asked to rise and Chris suggested to everyone, can you really believe that these people were able to ride for 8 days traveling some 3800 kilometers and continued to say that these VMMA members are just a small representation of those who tirelessly worked to achieve the aim of the “Breathless” 8 Day Ride which was to RAISE THE AWARENESS OF CF WITHIN THE COMMUNITY whilst attempting to raise much needed funds.
Chris presenting and Kaiser receiving the VMMA and Freemason Victoria cheque donation of $45,038.85 the proceeds of the "Breathless" 8 Day Ride last November.
The presentation continued with the fact that the VMMA has assisted in raising and donating over $300k to community-based organisations since its inception, but even though this amount is substantial the true worth of the VMMA to the community is well represented here this evening.
To conclude the VMMA presentation prior to making the donation, the following was quoted:
I can show you – BUT YOU MAY NOT SEE
I can tell you – BUT YOU MAY NOT HEAR
I can involve you – AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND
And that quotation "I can involve you - AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND" is the key to our success.
Chris and Kaiser posing for a photograph!!!! Chris with CFV Ambassador Glenn Tebble.
Final words from the VMMA was that raising the awareness of CF within the community continues to be a high priority of the VMMA and this donation of $45038.85 to us represents only a small part of what was achieved during the ”Breathless” 8 Day Ride.
Reported by CW
