By Tanya Steele
Mother’s Day will be made extra special as a local Ferntree Gully market plans to make a generous donation to a national breast cancer charity.
The Gully Market will be donating 2,000 towards the OTIS Foundation and hopes to raise further funds on the weekend of Mother’s Day for 2024.
President of the Upper Ferntree Gully market Ian Rice continues on his mission to spread funds collected by the market across local community groups and said he is happy to make the donation.
“OTIS is a good and vital organisation and the market will continue with this type of work,” he said.
The OTIS Foundation is a national not for profit that provides retreat stays at no cost to those dealing with the challenges of breast cancer.
CEO Claire Culley said that the donation is very welcome and the money will make a difference to many families that use the charity.
“We’re incredibly grateful to groups like the Ferntree Gully Market,” she said.
“We’ve been ongoing since the year 2000 and we don’t receive any public or government funding – so all of our work that we do across the country is through public generosity.”
“Every $100 we get means a night for someone.”
Ms Culley said that the Ferntree Gully Market has a close connection with the charity and contacted OTIS to make a donation.
“He thought we could be a really good cause to do some grassroots fundraising for,” she said.
OTIS provides a fully paid for stay to families living with breast cancer in their families, providing a vital space to decompress with the stress of illness and treatments and spend quality time with loved ones.
“For some, it is probably the last time that they will get to have be with their family, and it’s about making memories for those families. So it is really important,” she said.
The Gully Market runs every Saturday and Sunday out of the Upper Ferntree Gully train station car park.
Previous recipients of funds from the market include the CFA, who put the money toward the extension of their station on the hill, providing more space for crews heading on jobs.
Other lucky community groups included the Angliss Hospital and the Upper Ferntree Gully junior football team.
Mr Rice is looking forward to raising funds this weekend and said that the market is about community.
“Our market is a community market, and the money we take after expenses should go back into the community,” he said.
The official cheque will be presented to the Otis Foundation in the following few weeks.
