The Gold Coast SUNS have this week announced a joint partnership between the Club, Rotary Gold Coast and the Gold Coast Community Fund. The partnership grew from the Club’s objective to give back to the local community and a desire to work with reputable organisations.
The idea of the initiative is to engage crowds at Metricon Stadium in a season-long fundraising effort on match days to encourage footy fans to donate loose change, and in turn help the local community. A portion of the proceeds will go directly to both charity organisations, as well as to the community-minded membership-based football club.
Gold Coast SUNS Community Programs Manager, Corey Bell, said it’s exciting to announce this three way partnership with so many home games still left in the 2012 Toyota AFL Premiership Season.
“The opportunity for match day fundraising generated a lot of interest from charities all over the country, and as a core value of the Club, we wanted to ensure we focussed our support on the Gold Coast.”
The Gold Coast Community Fund was an obvious choice as one of the most established entities in South East Queensland, having been around for 10 years and raised around $1.2million for local Gold Coast beneficiaries. Rotary was one of many charities that approached the Club looking for a joint endeavour in match day fundraising, and was an apt partner with a wide reaching network of over 20 clubs and around 1,300 members on the Gold Coast.
“As a Club we are indebted to the Gold Coast community. Without their support, we wouldn’t have won the 17th AFL licence. We are dedicated to giving back to our community, and do so across a plethora of programs, initiatives and appearances throughout the year both in season and in the off season,” Bell said.
“The best thing about this partnership is that while we are raising funds through match day raffles, we have been able to find yet another way to support the local community.”
Chairman of the Gold Coast Community Fund, Simon Bennett, echoes this sentiment.
“The best part of joining forces is how the fundraising initiative will benefit the local community here on the Gold Coast.
“It’s great to partner with the Gold Coast SUNS for the work that we do in the community. This partnership with the Club and Rotary for match day fundraising raffles, cements the affiliation our organisations have with each other.”
The fundraising effort will begin at Metricon Stadium’s first birthday celebration tomorrow, when the Gold Coast SUNS take on Port Adelaide.
