An incredible display of hard work and generosity reached its conclusion on Monday with Fawkner Soccer Club handing over a $15,187 donation to Greater Shepparton Foundation.
Raised via a tournament to help those impacted by the Shepparton floods, Fawkner pulled soccer clubs from across Melbourne together in order to reach the impressive total.
“I’m immensely proud,” Fawkner club president Michael Ryan said.
“The whole club, the committee that brought all this together, it’s just truly amazing what we were able to achieve.
“Everyone who had an involvement, we’re very grateful for them.”
While similar fundraising events may take months to pull off, Fawkner did it in four days, with sponsors donating everything from trophies to a barbecue and Shepparton Cup organiser Australian Football Skool getting the word out.
Organised in the wake of the cancellation of the junior soccer tournament set to be hosted in Shepparton, Ryan said there were a number of reasons the club decided to hold the event.
“Obviously the kids wanted to play, but I think the most important thing for us was actually being able to give back to something that’s given for us,” he said.
“We were just blown away from how much money we were able to raise.
“I think initial thoughts were probably around $5000 then that became around $10,000 and then once we did the final count and we were up over $15,000 ― it’s just huge.
“To be able to donate all that money, it’s a real proud moment.”
Speaking after receiving the donation, Greater Shepparton Foundation board director Julia Thomas said the efforts of the club were amazing.
“It means a lot to us and to the community, there’s lots of very worthwhile initiatives that we can use to support the flood-affected regions,” Thomas said.
Set to assist people in a number of ways, Thomas said the money would go towards assisting financial literacy initiatives, people who are temporarily homeless or have a home needing repair, young people who missed out on activities due to the floods and helping people replace belongings.
Proud of the connection now shared between Fawkner and Shepparton, Thomas said the foundation was grateful for the soccer club’s efforts.
“The generosity is overwhelming actually,” she said.
“The fact that they have thought to essentially hold a tournament in place of the tournament that they missed out on here, but turn that into a fundraising initiative in their own community which is over 150km away is overwhelming, it’s so generous.”