canteen

The Warrandyte Lions Club's involvement with CanTeen began in 1996. In that year it became known to the club that CanTeen was in need of a mini-bus to allow its members to participate in the numerous and differing pursuits the organisation is involved with.

CanTeen is unique. It is an organisation started by young people living with cancer and continues to be run and managed by young people afflicted in this way. It is a growing organisation with a mission to provide support, development and empowerment to young people living with cancer. It provides a high quality, Australia wide peer support network of these young people and their siblings to share experiences, have fun, offer resources and promote understanding, well being and leadership.

The Club's first fundraising effort was an auction and entertainment evening held at the popular Rembrandt's Function Centre in Melbourne. Over 300 people attended the evening and by night's end over $22,000 had been raised, sufficient to meet the objective. Since that first function, CanTeen has been a significant annual focal point for the club culminating in a water sports and fun weekend at Eildon in central Victoria.

FUN DAYS FOR KIDS WITH CANCER

This popular weekend continues to gather greater support for CanTeen and now the club is partnered by the Lions Club of Eildon and the Eildon Boat Club and is now regarded by Canteen members as the best and most popular activity in their calendar. Recently, forty-one kids attended the 2002 event knowing that funds were again needed, this time for Canteen’s next winter camp. Arriving at the Lions Club of Eildon’s Big River Camp, where they enjoyed a BBQ evening and overnight bunkhouse accommodation, they were greeted with the news that funds for their winter camp had already been raised.

The following morning the coach took them to the Eildon Boat Club where boats, sponsored by the Warrandyte Lions Club were boarded for a morning’s activity of water skiing, jet skiing and jaunts in numerous speedboats. Those who tired or became exhausted were able to board and relax on a number of houseboats that provided the comforts of home away from home.

At midday the cruise boat “Macquarie Lady” was made available by her owner to serve lunch whilst cruising to Italian Bay. The “Macquarie Lady” here joined a flotilla of nineteen houseboats where the teenagers were assigned to each for the afternoon to enjoy more water skiing, speedboat rides, swimming and some fishing. Adding to the fun and activities, the RAAF Roulettes showed up on cue at 3pm to perform their spectacular aerobatic antics over Lake Eildon.

As the sun settled on the sixth Canteen Watersports Weekend, a tired bunch of kids returned to the Eildon Boat Club where they were fed and then happily boarded their bus for the return trip to Melbourne.

A great weekend topped by the knowledge that $21,000 had been raised for their winter camp. The event to raise these funds was again a charity auction, but this time it was held in the function rooms of the Eildon Boat Club on the Friday evening before. The auction brought spirited bidding from club members and guests for the fifteen sale items which were donated by local businesses, contractors and individuals. Included were things like a wooden wine barrel that raised $400, five nights holiday accommodation in Tahiti brought $3500 and a trip for twenty-five people on the Royal Barge on Melbourne’s Yarra River achieved a top bid of $4000.

As organiser, Lion Ron Cuthbert said, “it is this commitment and doing these kinds of things that makes being a Lion so satisfying”.