THE spirit and generosity of the Dubbo community came to the fore again on Friday night at a fundraiser facilitated by Dubbo Harness Racing Club.
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The 'Jump In For Jess' event was held at the club's TAB meeting and resulted in more than $12,000 being raised to assist Jessica Sutton and her husband, local trainer-driver James Sutton, as Jess endures treatment for cancer.
Combined with an online fundraising page, close to $20,000 has been raised to help the couple and their children Ally and Jarrod through a difficult time.
Karen Sutton was one of the organisers of the event and she admitted the end result far outweighed any expectations she had going in.
"We didn't really speak about what we thought we could make but in my mind I had a figure of about $10,000," she said.
"The whole thing was amazing. We didn't have to chase anyone for anything, we had people coming to us offering things and it just turned out terrific.
"If there's any silver lining from this whole ordeal it's to see how much community support there is out there. It was pretty overwhelming really.
"That was the glory of the 'Supporting Jess Sutton' Facebook page we set up as well. Jess has been in Orange having treatment but she's been able to see the amount of love and support people have."
While a large number of items were auctioned and raffled on the night, there are still some left to be done in the coming weeks and months.
A two-year-old filly, a free stallion service, and a couple of football jerseys will be auctioned down the track once the dust has settled on this fundraiser.
"The filly and the stallion service are special area items, so we'll work out the best way to deal with them and go from there, and the footy jerseys weren't ready in time for Friday night," Sutton said.
"We'll let people know on the Facebook page what we plan on doing with them."
Anyone who missed Friday night's event but would like to chip in to help the Sutton family can still do so by visiting the website https://www.mycause.com.au/page/104604/jumpinforjess and donating.