TUMOURS in children becoming a thing of the past was the main reason for a special lunch and fashion parade in Bendigo today.
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The Fashion for the Field fundraising lunch at Bendigo Stadium raised about $3780 for an official auxiliary of the Royal Children's Hospital, the Cancer In Kids Auxiliary (CIKA), which conducts research into childhood cancers.
Event organiser Ruth Edelsten said the CIKA fundraiser, which included a two-course meal and a clothes and hat fashion parade, had a good turnout of about 150 people.
She said the fact the amount raised for CIKA more than doubled the amount raised at last year event was '"fantastic".
"Everyone loved it, we had great models," she said.
"The venue was great... very supportive of whatever we wanted. I’d like to thank everyone for their support, people were just wonderful."
CIKA president Sandra Lehrer, one of the event's special guests, thanked Ms Edelsten for her support with getting CIKA fundraisers under way in Bendigo.
Ms Lehrer said all money raised for the auxiliary went directly towards research into solid tumours, the most common type of childhood cancers.
"There are two kinds of cancer in kids, blood cancer and solid tumours - a hard tumour which lodges itself in various places in the body," she said.
To treat solid tumours in children required radical surgery often on tiny bodies, Ms Lehrer said.
“Our mission is research will evolve into better treatment," she said.
Ms Lehrer's own son, now aged 38, had a solid tumour when he was 13, and a relapse at 15.
"That’s the main drive of why I do it," she said.
"I want children to have the best treatment possible with the best possible outcome."
She said the auxiliary was also looking to establish a Bendigo "Friends of CIKA" group who could get together socially and discuss future fundraising events in the area, with the support of the Royal Children's Hospital.
For information on CIKA, visit www.cika.org.au/
