An update for our families, friends, and supporters…

News: 30 July 2021

This is going to be a long one, but we wanted to reach out to everyone in our community and give you the breakdown of where things are at.

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks in Victoria and with restrictions still in place, the Challenge calendar still finds itself in limbo.

Junior Camp, which was meant to go ahead in mid-July, has now been postponed for the second time, and is in the process of being rescheduled. Our upcoming Cohuna Camp is still scheduled to go ahead but is largely dependent on how the restrictions ease on Tuesday, 10 August.

We are working hard to get our School Holiday Program up and running again in September, but again, this is all dependent on how life in Victoria looks at this point in time. The same deal goes for our annual Urban Camp – there is every chance that this activity may also be affected by restrictions, but we will confirm details about the camp closer to September.

With all this going on, we have also welcomed a new Camps and Activities Coordinator to our team – Tom.  He is settling in very well at Challenge and we can’t wait for you all to meet him. If you have any questions about our camps and activities schedule (or maybe you just want to say hi!), please do not hesitate to give Tom a call or send him an email at camps@challenge.org.au.

On a brighter note, our accommodation, music and art therapy, in-hospital support, home help, and parent support programs are all still up and running to great success. We are grateful that we are still able to connect and support our families through these services and please don’t forget we are always here for a chat. If you need some advice or support, we are always willing to help – all you need to do is call!

Now, onto fundraising…

We are bitterly disappointed that many of our fundraising events remain uncertain with one of our biggest fundraisers of the year – the Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend Gala Dinner – officially postponed for the second time. With current density limits, it wasn’t feasible for the event to go ahead, but we hope that it will be third time lucky!

Our national #DoingItForJarrod campaign is ready to launch in August and we are so excited to see golf club all around Australia go yellow in honour of our late ambassador, Jarrod Lyle. Fortunately, this is outdoor-based event is deemed COVID-safe according to current restrictions around Australia. If you are a golfer and want to help us raise much-needed funds for children and families living with cancer, then please get involved and encourage others to as well!

So, this is the current situation Challenge find itself in. It is a situation we have grown accustomed to now; we have accepted the reality that life is uncertain when there is a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic sweeping the globe. It can be disheartening, but at the end of the day, our highest priority is keeping your children and families safe.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to any member of the Challenge team if you have any questions. We will always do our best to support you and your family – no matter the circumstance.

And to our supporters, we thank you so very much. Many of you have reached out to us during these uncertain times and we can’t tell you how much it means to us. We consider ourselves the luckiest community in the world to have such an amazing foundation of people supporting us. Thank you and we hope you are all taking care during these difficult times.