By Jesse Graham
YARRA Ranges residents are being asked to light up a lantern and walk around Lillydale Lake on Friday 30 September, to support people living with leukaemia and blood cancer.
The Lilydale Light the Night event will be held from 5pm to 7pm on the Friday afternoon, with a procession gathering at the lake’s community room, at the far car park, before walking the lake together.
Organiser Brian Hodgson said each attendee received a lantern with their $20 donation, which came in three colours – gold, to represent someone lost to blood cancer; white, representing survivors; and blue, to represent supporters.
He said that his sister-in-law had survived blood cancer and that he attended the Melbourne Light the Night event with her each year.
“This initially started off with thinking I could get a bus from Wandin for my colleagues – we could bus ourselves into the city,” Mr Hodgson said.
“I thought, well, that’s ridiculous, it’s not that much work to run the event here – and it isn’t – so three years ago, we started the event.”
He said the first year saw 400 people gather lanterns and walk the lake, with 600 attendees last year, and Mr Hodgson said he hoped the numbers would increase this year, despite the poor weather.
With about $8000 received in donations by Friday 23 September, he’s hopeful the event will be able to raise $25,000 for the Leukaemia Foundation, to support people undergoing treatment for blood cancers.
“We’re a quarter of the way there, with a week to go – quite a few people come on the day, so we’ve got a pretty good chance of reaching our target,” Mr Hodgson said.
“But our principle purpose, it isn’t the raising of money – the principle purpose is providing the environment and the experience.
“It’s a great event, and it’s a good fund-raiser, but it also has a bit of a spirit, because people come here for different reasons, but they’ve all had contact with the disease.”
He said the group would be able to watch the sun set over the hill in Lilydale from the community room at the lake, before embarking on the walk, which takes about 45 minutes.
Billanook College students, who helped to build the lanterns, will act as marshals along the path.
Leukamia Foundation campaigns and business development manager Meaghan Bush said that every $100 raised would cover the costs of giving a family emotional support immediately after a diagnosis, as well as an hour of blood cancer research.
For more information, visit lightthenight.org.au/event/Lilydale or call 1800 500 088.
