Kiwanis Melbourne Cup Ladies donate Vt300,000 to Vanuatu female Para-athletes

Dec 23, 2019 | Initiatives and Projects | 0

Kiwanis is pleased to announce a donation of Vt300,000 to the Vanuatu Paralympic Committee for activities in 2020 that will directly target female para-athletes.

“This is wonderful news. Kiwanis has continued this support for three years and we have been able to specifically target initiatives for our female para athletes to train, have appropriate uniforms and participate in competitions such as the Commonwealth Games, Arafura Games Pacific Games and in two month’s time – the Queensland Athletics Championships. Of course our big focus is to have at least one of our female parathletes qualify on merit for the Tokyo Paralympic Games in September 2020,” explains Margaret Macfarlane Vanuatu Paralympic Committee (VPC) President.

Mark Stafford Kiwanis President commented, “Kiwanis is very happy to continue supporting the Vanuatu Paralympic Committee as we know with the VPCs strong governance, financial reporting and acquittals, our funds will be well-spent.”

Liz Pechan, VPC Treasurer remarked, “We are just finalising our team for the Queensland Championships and intend to ensure at least one of our parathletes will be supported through this Kiwanis funding a continuation of the Kiwanis ethos of women in Vanuatu raising funds for Ni-Vanuatu women.”

Every year on the first Tuesday of November — the day of the famous horse race — the Melbourne Cup, the Port Vila Kiwani’s Club holds the Melbourne Cup Ladies Luncheon.

This year it was held at Warwick Le Lagon with 280 women attending to enjoy the day of good food, high fashion and friendship. Many business houses in Port Vila use this opportunity to sponsor attendance by corporate women employed in their companies and 2019 saw a very large representation from the private sector at the luncheon.

However, there is always a more serious motive for the function, apart from wearing cocktail hats, high heels and glamorous dresses. Every ear the funds raised are used by Kiwanis to support initiatives that assist women and children in Vanuatu.

SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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