A GROUP of optometrist staff are putting aside their special equipment for the day on June 17, to take part in the inaugural Audi Arrow Experience.
The group of four staff from Michael Chu Optometrists have been training and fundraising hard and are excited about the upcoming event.
Practice manager Leanne Lehmann said the “For Eyes” team of Michael Chu, Melissa Moore, Karen Rowe and herself felt it was a worthy cause for the community.
“I’ve been an active user of the Arrow walking tracks for many years and we believe it’s a great time of year to enjoy the unique Arrow walking tracks,” Ms Lehmann said.
“For us, it will not be a race, we’ll just take our time to get to the finishing line and enjoy the walk while we’re there,” she said.
The team is currently at the top of the fundraising team tally, at $595 raised, but other teams are not far behind.
The Audi Arrow Experience is an initiative of the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation, as a fundraiser for the Emergency Department of Cairns Hospital.
Foundation fundraising and event co-ordinator Gaby Thomasz said the event was a great opportunity to fundraise for the local health service, that everyone will need at some point.
“In the last year, the Cairns Hospital Emergency Department saw 68,634 patients so we think it’s really important to support these vital health workers,” Ms Thomasz said.
“Most of our participants are choosing to walk all four arrow trails, but we do have some doing the shorter two-trail course as well. Fundraising is going really well – we’ve hit $30, 000 but we would really like to raise $100, 000,” she said.
Participants are fundraising through donations and raffle ticket sales in a beautiful Audi A1, supplied by Audi Centre Cairns.
It is hoped funds raised will go towards special xray equipment to use when transporting critically unwell monitored patients in a timely manner, as well as improved medical imaging monitors.
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