Club Taree Unveils Next Chapter of Community Giving

For the past 10 years, the Club’s staff have volunteered their time — as part of the Club Taree Community team — to jump on to exercise bikes to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern NSW.

In fact, it’s become Taree’s biggest fundraising event, with a total of $597,205 raised over the past decade to help families who have children undergoing medical treatment. 

The initiative has led to Club Taree winning a Clubs & Community Award on multiple occasions for their fundraising work. 

So, it came as a shock to many when last year, at a gala evening to celebrate 10 years of the initiative, the Club announced it was retiring the concept. 

While that chapter was closed, their journey of giving back to their community was far from over, with a desire to honour the legacy of Le Tour de Taree with the impact they had built, the relationships they had fostered and the spirit of generosity that defined their efforts by evolving into something even greater.

That has led to the establishment of the Club Taree Community Challenge, with the full details revealed at the recent inaugural Club Taree Community Challenge Gala, held at the Club on Saturday, 19 July.

“When I stood on this stage last July and announced that we were laying Le Tour de Taree to rest, I was uncertain, and I have to admit, a little bit scared,” said Club Taree CEO Paul Allan.

“I said then that we would create something to replace Le Tour de Taree and that we would work to honour the legacy that it had built, and that’s exactly what we set about to do.”

In front of a capacity audience, which was attended by special guests including Federal MP for Lyne, Alison Penfold, Paul announced that each year the Club Taree Community Challenge would dedicate its fundraising efforts to benefit three key recipients.

The first will always be the Club Taree Community Team and its charitable recipients, the second will always be one of the Club’s four community partners — the Cancer Council, CanASSIST Manning Valley, Taree Community Kitchen and Ronald McDonald House Charities Northern NSW. The third will be a one-off organisation. 

At the end of the fundraising period, the total funds raised will be equally divided among the three recipients, ensuring a broad and meaningful impact across the community.

“It’s the result of months of conversations, of meetings and of planning,” said Paul.

“There was a small moment where we were going to reinstate Le Tour de Taree, but from there we moved forward with confidence and with pride in what we’d already achieved.

“We wanted to increase the reach of our signature event, so instead of raising money for one particular organisation, we would support more organisations.”

Along with the Club Taree Community Team, this year’s chosen recipients are the Cancer Council and the Mid Coast Domestic Violence Monitoring Committee. 

So far, a staggering $217,307 has been raised this year towards the cause, including proceeds from a recent trivia night and the gala event held on 19 July.

With that figure just shy of half the amount raised over a 10-year period with Le Tour de Taree, it appears the Club’s bold move may well be the right one.