Puffing Billy Gives Back

Sunday, March 16, 2014 – 11:30 a.m. Geelong time (on the road to Mt. Waverly)

By Teressa Jackson

Thursday, the group began its day at William Angliss Hospital in Ferntree Gully, where the late Steve Irwin was born. The hospital has a special partnership with the local Rotary Club of Emerald & District. The Club has raised funds for a lovely new children’s area at the facility through a fun run. We toured the children’s area and other parts of the hospital, learning about their current approaches, ideas for future improvements, and volunteer initiatives, and then enjoyed spending time talking with their staff over a cup of coffee.

From William Angliss, we made our way to Puffing Billy, an old steam train we’d heard much about in recent weeks. We had the delightful experience of a first class lunch in the dining car, and it was a relaxing afternoon full of conversation and good food. We rode to Lakeside, where we spent the better part of an hour, and then made the trip back. Tonya and Mike got a few specks of soot on them riding in the engine, but they assured us that the experience was worth it.

 

We wrapped up our day with the Rotarians in a brief meeting at one of their homes, where we viewed a short video about the fun run they do to raise funds for William Angliss. The run is actually a race against Puffing Billy, and it was interesting to see how they tied the whole day together. Peer-to-peer fundraising has helped supplement sponsorships of the event to the tune of around $8,000 in recent years, so that net proceeds are in the $60,000 to $70,000 range.

That evening, my hosts John and Claire took me to a lovely Indian dinner. The eggplant and potatoes and vegetable korma were delicious, and I slept well on a very full belly.

View more photos from the day and stay up-to-date with all our latest at our Facebook page:www.facebook.com/gse2014.