33 treadmills were kept in continuous motion for 24 hours from May 26-27 raising $822,668 (and counting) for children in 24 hour care at Very Special Kids Hospice in Melbourne.
1,008 participants including AFL players, politicians, TV personalities and people that have been touched by Very Special Kids, joined forces to keep the treadmills going and raise as much money as possible.
Footy players from Carlton, St Kilda and Collingwood came to show support, as well as Michael O’Brien MP and Mayor Jami Klisaris, both jumping on a treadmill to motivate and entertain participants.
We also received a visit from Channel 7’s Jane Bunn and Peter Mitchell which sure did excite our participants, especially when they got on treadmills themselves and still happened to look perfect every step of the way.
By the end of the 24 Hour Treadmill Challenge participants had covered over 6,100 kilometers, guzzled 598 liters of water, listened to more than 500 songs, and far exceeded the event’s goal to raise $800,000 through donations from friends and family.
To celebrate the end of the 24 hours, Very Special Kids held an award ceremony congratulating the top fundraising efforts. This included the highest fundraising corporate, which went to the ALH Group who raised $161,384 and the highest fundraising team, which went to DFP recruitment who raised $40,755.
The highest fundraising individual was awarded to Richard Burnet, who was running in his team dedicated to his son’s Sebastian and Charlie, who are supported by Very Special Kids. Richard raised a massive $20,535 and stayed for almost the whole 24 hours to support his team mates.
The funds raised will go to Very Special Kids Hospice, Victoria’s only children’s hospice, providing specialist care for children with life-threatening conditions.
The 24 Hour Treadmill Challenge was made possible through the support of 7 News, Smooth FM, NOVOFIT and TRUE fitness.
Story Source: Very Special Kids
Ryan Fritz
Ryan Fritz started The Advocate in 2014 to provide not-for-profits and charities another media platform to tell their worthwhile hard news stories and opinion pieces effortlessly. In 2020, Ryan formed a team of volunteer journalists to help spread even more high-quality stories from the third sector. He also has over 10 years experience as a media and communications professional for not-for-profits and charities and currently works at Redkite, a childhood cancer charity.
