When you hear the phrase ‘going for gold’ there are a few images that come to mind – the Olympic games, winners’ podiums and celebratory trophies. But for the Childhood Cancer Association, ‘going for gold’ means raising awareness of the impacts of childhood cancer and the need for fundraising to help support the cause. 

Gold is the international colour of childhood cancer and the colour that you might see popping up throughout the country this month. Many of Australia’s iconic landmarks have been lit up gold to promote awareness – from the Story Bridge in Brisbane to the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide and many places in between.

It is also the colour of ribbons, shirts, and even shoelaces being worn by thousands of Australians across the country to show their support and to let hundreds of families battling cancer know they aren’t facing the fight alone.

The Childhood Cancer Association is an organisation focused on ensuring families living with cancer receive the support they need by providing counselling, accommodation, tutoring and child-minding services to families throughout their child’s treatment. 

The Lott was proud to donate $50,000 to the Childhood Cancer Association in December 2019, to help fund their incredible work.

Cath O’Loughlin, the Childhood Cancer Association’s Chief Executive in Adelaide, says that the past six months have been the hardest she has ever faced in her role due to the onset of COVID-19 restrictions.

“With the majority of fundraising events cancelled at the time the pandemic hit, we estimated a shortfall of more than 50% of the revenue needed to keep our vital services going,” Cath said. 

“The challenges we had to overcome to provide essential support services to families in need, when the effects of COVID-19 created a surge in demand for our services, meant we had to get creative.

“The $50,000 donation from the Lott came at just the right time, as we needed to adapt quickly to meet restrictions and change our counselling programs from being face-to-face services to a telehealth model.

“The current trend is indicating the effects of COVID-19 has created a 15% increase in demand for our professional counselling services, and it is our number one priority to continue to support families to help them cope.”

We are proud to play a small part in supporting this incredible organisation as they help families through the dual stresses of their child having cancer and a global pandemic. The Childhood Cancer Association does fantastic work in giving hope to hundreds of children and their families, and we are honoured to support their goal of ‘going for gold’ this September.