THE 12-hour shearing fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) held last Saturday in Wannon had a great turnout, with around 60 volunteers that pushed through the scorching heat, raising a whopping $35,981.50 for the worthy cause. 

Shearer, Ken Bungard and wool classer, Tara Stephens were the key organisers and volunteers for the event, with the idea being inspired by the charity that had supported them through a difficult time last year.

During the birth of their first child, Cruz, in February 2023, the couple encountered a high-risk pregnancy which required extensive medical care at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne.

Ken and Tara were offered the opportunity to stay at RMH which enabled them to easily access the medical attention Cruz required without the additional stress of accommodation expenses and availability.

“We only stayed there for 14 days,” Ken said.

“There are families we met at the house that have regular, long visits, who told us they wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the RMH.”

“It fully was a life changing event,” Tara added.

After discovering that the RMH costs $5000 to sponsor a room each year, with 36 rooms in total, Ken and Tara started brainstorming ways to give back to the generous cause.

“In the last five months, we got onto shearing contractors for sponsorship, and these donations contributed, however, shearing the 2000 (sheep) was the big sum,” Ken said.

“We also received a lot of smaller donations.”

With close to $36,000 raised, all donations contributed to sponsor a room in the RMH for six years, including filling the communal pantry with food supplies, and providing ill and injured children with some new books and toys.

“It was well over our goal, we thought it would be like $20,000 (raised),” Tara said.

“The target goal was received early … we were so proud of everyone.”

Despite outside temperatures soaring close to 40 degrees on the day, volunteers from all over Victoria, including Hamilton, Ararat and Geelong, powered through the 12-hour shearing period, to help raise as much funds as possible.

“When I saw on Monday morning that it would be 39 degrees on Saturday, I was worried,” Ken said.

“But before 5am start on Saturday morning, when we saw everyone there who said they would show up, we were so grateful.

“Everybody showed up, and they gave their 100 per cent,” Tara added.

Ken and Tara said that the three 15-litre iced-water coolers and Powerade that was topped throughout the day with fresh fruit and sandwiches from helpers - along with the Lions Club barbecue - helped push volunteers through the heat.

“We also had lots of air conditioning … around 20 fans running on the day,” Ken said.

With Ken growing up in rural New Zealand, the couple said that the experience with RMH had been a huge learning curve for both of them over the past 13 months.

“We had one RMH representative there on the day to accept the cheque, and we sent her home with a polo shirt, to thank her for all the organisation has done for us, and for the community,” Tara said.

“Everybody that jumped on board, we can’t thank them enough.

“All the support and everything, it has been very overwhelming.”

“It is an unbelievable, epic feeling,” Ken added.

Donations are still open until March 30 via email at shearcoswecare@gmail.com