Excitement is building in the Far North about the region’s first known No-Reserve Charity Land Auction.
To be held on Saturday, May 14 from 9.30am on the 800sq m block, auctioneer Lance Richards is excited about the event. “As far as I know, nothing like this has happened in this
region before, so we’re very excited about supporting the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation and men’s cancers,” Mr Richards said.
Urban Properties’ James and Rachel Fennell also are excited about interest in the unusual auction.
“We’ve been involved with the Foundation for other fundraising events. We deliberately wanted to expand the focus and awareness of this initiative to cover men’s cancer. Our
industry is represented very heavily by a male workforce and we look after these guys with safety procedures on site, but we also wanted to make a difference to their health and
quality of life as well,” Mr Fennell said. The Foundation will receive a donation – the profits from the proceeds of the auction are earmarked for equipment at Cairns Hospital.
Cairns Hospital urologists are hopeful the funds would go towards a prostate scanning device, attached to the relatively new PET-CT scanner that the Foundation contributed
$700, 000 towards. Currently Far North Queensland prostate patients must travel to a private facility in Townsville or a public facility in Brisbane to have the scan.
“At the moment, we send up to four patients a week away for this scan, but if we had it here, it would be more widely utilised,” Cairns Hospital urologist Stefan Antoniou said.
“It will definitely sell – no-reserve auctions are unheard of here, so we’re confident of a great outcome for the Foundation and the buyer who will know they’ve done their bit to
help out too,” Mr Fennell said.
Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation CEO Tony Franz said he was thrilled that the companies had recognised the importance of making a difference to local health care.
• The auction will be held from 9.30am on Saturday, May 14 on site at Lot 55, Millhouse Estate. Pre-registrations are encouraged at Millhouse Estate.
