By Mikayla van Loon
A fundraising plant sale held by Lilydale, Mt Evelyn and Monbulk RSL sub-branches has raised enough money to send a student to trek the Kokoda Trail later this year.
The Cowey-Selman Award committee has been gaining sponsorships and raising money to give one Year 11 student the chance to win a fully-funded trip to Papua New Guinea.
With the efforts from each of the RSL clubs on Saturday 26 February, $4500 was raised to go towards the funding of the trek, meaning it is well on the way to being a reality now.
“The support that we got from the plant growers and the nurseries was brilliant. They were the ones who helped make this such a big success,” Mt Evelyn RSL secretary Anthony McAleer said.
“But then the general public were very supportive and they were very keen to help out because they thought the cause that we were raising money for was a good one.”
Cowey-Selman Award program chair Greg Green said there was a steady stream of people from the community all morning and it was a relief to know the money was now raised.
“I’m extremely happy with the result and the support from the community and I’m very pleasantly surprised with the amount raised,” he said.
The next step of the award process is for schools to collect it’s students’ applications, either in the form of an essay or multimedia project, by Sunday 27 March.
“The schools will then shortlist and send them to Mount Evelyn RSL. We have an independent panel of three people who will shortlist them down to four or five or six, then they’ll conduct the interviews. The plan at this stage is to announce our winner on Anzac Day,” Mr Green said.
With the 80th anniversary of the Kokoda campaign this year, all involved in the Cowey-Selman award are hopeful that the student will be able to get to Papua New Guinea this year.
“The 80th anniversary is an important milestone and I think it’d be great for the local fellows who served in the campaign to actually send someone from this area over there almost as a representative and pay tribute to those who served during that time,” Mr McAleer said.
“The PNG government is now going to start issuing tourist visas again. So with a little bit of luck, the winner will be able to trek sometime this year,” Mr Green said.
“I’m sure there will be special services along the way at places like Brigade Hill and Isurava commemorating the 80th anniversary and the diggers who served and those who didn’t come home.”
Mr Green said he was so grateful to have the support of the RSL clubs and their contribution to the award was remarkable.
“The RSL clubs have really driven this thing and made it happen. It wouldn’t have happened without them. They’ve really supported the cause,” he said.
This was the first time the three RSL branches had worked collaboratively on a project like this, something Mr McAleer said would not have been possible without the help of the Lilydale Baptist Church and the plant growers who donated to the sale.
“We’ve been sort of very collegial in how we get things done. I think that was a real positive aspect for those involved in those three clubs. It was a great chance for us to come together,” Mr McAleer said.
“It’s been great to do and hopefully it’ll be the start of more projects the three RSLs will work together on.”
Mr Green wanted to thank each of the nurseries and plant growers for their donations, particularly Craig Vandenberg for his help on the day and in the lead up.
