Cootamundra is a town that always punches above its weight when it comes to community spirit but the Finlay family have undoubtedly won the bout after raising over $5,000 for medical research.
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Joanna Finlay’s husband, Royce, was recently diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND) – a crippling ailment that attacks the nervous system.
Joanna’s response to this news was swift and inspiring.
“My husband was diagnosed this year but he's obviously had it for a long time,” she said.
“So when it started coming up to his 70th birthday, we decided to give an afternoon tea party but in lieu of presents, we'd do something for MND.
“That’s how this all started anyway.”
With Wendy Rickatts at her side, Joanna began sharing the news by word of mouth, hardly expecting a crowd to arrive come Royce’s party.
“We just asked a friend to ask a friend and our family told some people,” she said.
“We weren’t bringing in a guest speaker or celebrity – we weren’t even planning on talking about MND, thought we did have a very nice blue and white theme for the afternoon tea.”
“All we wanted was people to support a good cause and thought maybe $1000 would be a nice sum to donate to research.”
Fast forward to post-event September and the sum has skyrocketed to over $5000 and counting.
“We had so much support from people from all over the place,” Joanna said.
“Friends came from Brisbane, Central Coast, Ballarat, Melbourne, Orange and obviously plenty from Cootamundra.
“Isn't that marvelous, just for raffle tickets, tea, slice, and some hot food on the day.”
For the Finlays, it’s a massive show of support from Cootamundra and beyond.
“MND is not a disease that’s spoken about a lot … even though the majority of Australian sufferers are in the Riverina,” Joanna said.
“It’s a terrible, insidious disease but the support shown by everyone gives my husband hope that he's still living.”
MND New South Wales spokesperson Kym Neilson was blown away by the fundraising efforts.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” she said.
“Cootamundra on the whole isn’t the biggest place but to show that kind of support is incredible.
“We're only a small charity so that money raised makes a really big difference.”
