Milestones celebrated

More than 30 years of fundraising achievements have been celebrated as the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation marked the 20th and 10th work anniversaries of Fundraising and Marketing
Manager Glenys Duncombe and Communications Officer Robyn Rankin recently.
Ms Duncombe, whose local pedigree extends back several generations, attended Cairns West State School and she is proud to say, Trinity Bay High School.
Her journey in fundraising began with her daughter Renee’s leukaemia diagnosis. This prompted Glenys and her whole family to start fundraising for the Leukemia Foundation.
After the tragic loss of Renee, Glenys became even more passionate and started working for the Leukemia Foundation. When the FNQHF position became available, she knew she was perfect for the role.
While not a “born and bred” local, Ms Rankin has proven her passion for health care and the region.
She came to the Foundation after 20 years in newspapers both here and elsewhere in regional Queensland and quickly adapted her skills to the role.
Her own health experiences, as well as supporting family members through the journey to end-of-life, have given her a unique perspective and compassion.
When we look back through the annual reports, we see that for the first one issued just after Ms Duncombe started, fundraising achieved $392,000. Under her stewardship, that figure has grown and this year the Foundation announced a figure achieved by fundraising of 10 times that amount.
Since then, she has led the fundraising team that has raised an incredible $30.8 million.
Ms Duncombe rode the very first Cardiac Challenge. She took on the Wayne Leonard’s Motorcycle Muster and helped drive fundraising to achieve $1 million in the 19 years the event took place (And riding behind Mr Leonard into the Children’s Ward at Cairns Hospital on a Harley Davidson!)
The personal friendships developed along the way have been an incredible source of strength and support and she is absolutely passionate about Far North Queenslanders and what we can achieve.
She strongly believes FNQ deserves the very best and if it’s not provided for us, we can go out and do it for ourselves.