A year after their first KidzFix Rally adventure, team Two Dads is hitting the road again to raise money to help sick kids.
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Dubbo’s David Ward and his friend Derek Blomfield (Quirindi) competed in the annual rally in September 2015 to raise money for the Newborn and Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (NETS).
It was a cause close to the Two Dads’ hearts – both have sons who were born premature and who owe their lives to the service.
After raising $23,000 for the cause in 2015 and earning the Spirit of KidzFix award, Mr Ward said it was the people involved in last year’s rally who made them come back.
“They came from broad backgrounds but all of them had a common purpose of wanting to help sick kids,” he said.
“A lot of them had personal experience of having kids transported by NETS.”
Last year’s rally took drivers from Gympie to Nowra and resulted in NETS ambulances for Nowra and Dubbo and a palliative care bed for Gympie Hospital’s Children’s Ward.
This year drivers will depart from Morwell, Victoria on September 10 and travel north to Jindabyne before turning back south, arriving at Bendigo on September 17.
“There’s snow still around so there’ll be snow on the sides of the road,” Mr Ward said.
“We’re going to have forest trails, rural roads, coastal roads, high country fire trails and back roads. It’s going to be lots of fun.”
Two Dads have so far raised $16,000 for this year’s cause – paediatric and neonatal telehealth clinics between large regional and smaller hospitals.
KidzFix organiser Candice Rapp said the project, worth $80,000, would foster communication between paediatric specialists and rural clinicians.
“The real winners from this project will be the kids, with fewer paediatric transfers so they can remain close to their family,” Ms Rapp said.
Mr Ward said businesses in Dubbo and Tamworth had generously pitched in to get Errol – Two Dads’ white 1992 Subaru Brumby Ute – up to scratch for the five thousand kilometre round trip.
“We’ve been really lucky with the support we’ve had and very gracious for the support we’ve received,” he said.
“I’m blown away by the amount of in-kind support, just helping us get the car ready.
“The generosity people have shown is quite amazing.”
For more information about the KidzFix Rally and team Two Dads or to donate, visit www.kidzfix.com.au or www.facebook.com/twodadskidzfixrally