Noah's Challenge
15 Oct 2011
Shortly after retiring to beautiful Wattamolla I was asked by a neighbour to become involved with fund raising for Noah’s Ark (Noah’s).
I was not exactly at a loose end but was keen to become involved with the local community.
I visited Noah’s in Nowra, a small centre providing special services to very young children with disabilities.
I was quickly convinced that I wanted to contribute to this extraordinary centre both as a volunteer and as a fund raiser.
The question was how to raise maximum dollars.
I was fortunate to have met a talented group of locals both from Kangaroo Valley and Wattamolla.
At an initial meeting we decided that that it was imperative to develop a sustainable fund raiser that would become an annual event and thus provide ongoing funds for Noah’s.
The fund raiser would be a team Adventure Race, and this wonderful group became the fund raising committee for “Noah’s Challenge” Keeping Families Afloat.
They are: Belinda Watson, David Brinson, Karen Harrison, Chris and Bronwyn Petersen, Liz Aitken, Bob Morris, Peter Still, Di McNamee, Vittoria Borazio, Norris Ingrisch, Jeff Levey and more recently Mary Anne Vanzwan.
I was fortunate that my committee not only had Adventure Race experience but collectively owned amazing skills to organise and run such an event.
Noah’s Challenge is a short course Adventure Race which includes a short run, mountain biking, canoeing and orienteering.
The course will take between 2-5 hours to complete and will suit all comers; from those who would like to have a go at something more than a fun run to those who want to challenge the clock.
This year has been an enormous learning curve and has entailed many hours of hard work. The committee has, for the most part been driven by Vittoria Borazio.
Vittoria, having previously been the Chief Operating Officer for Father Chris Riley’s Youth off the Streets, has brought a wealth of experience to the team.
In order to promote Noah’s Challenge it was important to attract well known personalities to champion our cause.
We are most fortunate that The Hon. Shelley Hancock, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and MP for the South Coast, agreed to be our Patron and Jackie “O” and Zoe Binder have become Ambassadors.
On August 5 Noah’s challenge was officially launched.
The launch was held at the Shoalhaven Campus of the University of Wollongong and was well supported by HMAS Albatross, our sponsors Ray White, Raytheon, AHA South Coast and Councillors Watson and Kearney. There were also many local supporters from Kangaroo Valley.
Our Patron the Hon. Shelley Hancock was our guest speaker and we were thrilled when she presented a cheque from the Department of Disability Services for $10.000.
Our Ambassador Zoe Binder was also in attendance and although Jackie could not attend she had previously visited Noah’s and WIN TV pre recorded the visit which was shown on WIN TV news.
Noah’s Challenge is now a reality and the event takes place on October 15 at West Street Oval in Nowra.
We are now busy attracting team entries and would like to encourage mountain bikers, runners, canoeists and anyone who would like to have fun, to have a go.
Noah’s families are challenged in extraordinary ways every day, so face a challenge for just one day and make a difference to Noah’s special children. For more information and to enter Noah’s Challenge, go to our website at
www.noahschallenge.com.au
Victoria Levy