Last week we ran a Family Challenge on our Facebook Page. Families were given a week to donate a few bucks in their family name and the family that donated the most at the end of the challenge would win a little prize.

The competitive nature of we humans got to work and the results were outstanding! The Vanags family and the Oberin/Buchanan families vied to keep themselves at the top of the table all week (which was great fun to watch) and in the end the gong went to the Oberin/Buchanan family with a whopping total of $205 in donations and the purchase of an IGAB t-shirt too!

We wanted to pay tribute to every family that participated in making last week a great week for the kids – and particularly wanted to recognise the ongoing support of the Vanags Family and the Oberin/Buchanan family. The Vanags family have been avid supporters of our work for over a year now and last year David & Tanya Vanags held a fundraising dinner for us that raised $48,900 in just one night.

Despite this amazing contribution they continue to support just about every appeal we launch and repeatedly spread the word about our work to their friends and family – we love you guys!

The Oberin/Buchanan family are just as special to us. Anne was the very first person (outside my immediate family!) to join our BIG Buckers Club with a fabulous donation of $500 to our very first appeal back in January 2010. Her donation was prompted by her daughter Ricky’s $50 donation. Ricky donated that $50 despite having challenges of her own and living on a disability pension. Both Ricky and Anne continue to support almost every appeal and they provide us with continued inspiration – I really hope to meet them one day when I’m down Melbourne way to thank them personally for all that they have done to support us. There are some cute IGAB caps on the way for our winners…