Twenty-three years ago, a group of Benalla businessmen and women came together to raise funds for a life-saving operation for a local baby whose liver was failing.
What grew out of that selfless act was the Benalla Trust.
The baby the group worked so hard to help all those years ago is Benalla’s William Dodds, who, now aged 23, was the recipient of its most recent donation.
Trust member Peter Brown said the recent donation to William came about when it received a $500 donation from an anonymous local person.
Thanks in part to the liver transplant, William is still around today. However, living with disability means he requires the assistance of a carer.
His home backs onto the rail line running through Benalla, and he loves trains.
“The initial plan, because William loves seeing the trains go past, was to use the donation to get him a camera,” Peter said.
“Unfortunately, due to his disability, he’s unable to use one. So we asked his mum, Shelley, what the next best thing would be.
“She suggested painting a mural for him on the garden shed.”
When the Trust looked into this, it was mid-winter.
“And we were told you don’t paint a mural in mid-winter,” Peter said.
“So Shelley suggested we get him a nice outdoor setting where he could sit and watch the trains.”
With this in mind, Peter found himself at Spot for Ice Cream on the corner of Bridge St and Samaria Rd a few days later.
“They have lovely tables outside they had made, and on the end of one of those tables, I found the maker’s name,” Peter said.
“It was a local Benalla man called Steve Vanderhorst.
“So I contacted him and told him what we wanted, and he had something perfect sitting in his workshop.
“We negotiated a price. Then Steve had it stained, drilled a hole for an umbrella, and we delivered it last week.”
Steve said this is what the Trust is all about, and everyone involved is thrilled to see how well William is doing.
“When you help someone like William, they can be really embarrassed by the assistance and will often not want any publicity,” Steve said.
“Which is why we rarely advertise what we do.”
If you would like to donate to the Benalla Trust, you can contact Trustee Trish Vale at 120 Bridge St East, Benalla or via 5762 5122.