A young man from Kincumber whose dying wish to give back to the charity that supported his family, has saved it from financial collapse.
Toby Martin lost his battle with Leukemia at the beginning of July and to honour his wish, his parents, Ros and Chris, started the Toby’s Gift fundraiser to support Central Coast Kids in Need.
The Bateau Bay based children’s charity financially supports hundreds of Central Coast families with seriously ill children, but thanks to the pandemic the voluntary run organisation was pushed to breaking point after vital fundraisers couldn’t proceed and regular donations began drying up.
Their situation became so dire that the charity ended up with a $100,000 hole in their budget and volunteers were concerned they’d run out of funds before the new year.
But thanks to Toby’s Gift the charity now has the funds to pull through.
Since Coast Community News last covered Central Coast Kids in Need’s (CCKIN) plight, the country has rallied behind the fundraiser, with a further $30,000 being raised to bring the amount Toby’s Gift has raised to over $60,000.
This coupled with the $30,000 donation from the charity’s major sponsor, Wyong Roos Foundation, and the $15,000 it received in donations through its website, has meant CCKIN will be able to continue covering the cost of travel, accommodation and medical expenses for the 126 families already on their books for this financial year without fear of bankruptcy.
CCKIN Secretary, Lorraine Churchill, said the charity would be eternally grateful to the Martin family for coming to its aid in its time of need.
“We have enough funding now to continue operating for the next nine months and this was all brought about because of one amazing young man.
“Strength, perseverance and courage; these three words explain Toby to a tee.
“We at CCKIN feel privileged to have known Toby and we will make the most of his gift to support as many families as we can,” Churchill said.
With donations pouring in from right around Australia, Churchill also extended her thanks to the hundreds of people inspired into donating by Toby.
“CCKIN has been servicing the Central Coast for the past 27 years and in all that time we’ve never been in a situation like this.
“We genuinely thought we’d have to close our doors, so we can’t thank everyone enough,” Churchill said.
With their finances temporarily in the green, Churchill said CCKIN was turning its attention to rebooting its fundraising.
“Along with the financial donations we’ve also received donations of prizes for our usual fundraising raffles and we’ve also had more people come on board to volunteer, so we feel very invigorated.
“We are now planning a major fundraiser for November, so watch this space,” Churchill said.
In more good news for the charity, it’s appeals to local politicians for government support and guidance also appear to have been answered.
“Part of the reason we ran into such a financial shortfall was the fact that we did not qualify for any government stimulus as a voluntary run charity.
“We appealed to all of the coast’s local, state and federal representatives for help and I’m pleased to say we have met with Robertson MP, Lucy Wicks, who has promised to take our case to Charity Minister, Zed Seselja, to see what can be done.
With the future at CCKIN looking brighter, Churchill said Toby’s legacy will forever live on through the charity’s work.
“Aside from being a testament to the Australian Spirit, this experience has shown us what we already knew, that Toby was an amazing young man who brought joy and hope to everyone around him.”
Dilon Luke