On Sunday 23 February 2025, volunteers from the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunrise gathered early to prepare yet another barbeque, this time in support of Dementia Australia's Memory Walk and Run event.
Commencing preparations at 6.30am were Barbeque organiser Roger Crosthwaite and his nephew Nic, who towed the BBQ trailer and helped to set up. Nic is a former Rotary exchange student and is very supportive of Rotary’s work and the Dementia Australia cause.
Over 1500 participants registered for the event and there were over 50 volunteers on hand to assist.
We served our first sausage sandwiches and egg and bacon rolls at 7.30am and there were a few keen to taste Kim's and Yohan's fine cooking. Neil and Helen were there to get things ready and handle the gradual influx.
The first runners and walkers started after a few formalities on site. Surprisingly, quite a few wanted a pre-run/walk snack! The busy period was 9.30 - 10.30am when the crowd returned and thanks to David and Randal we had it all in hand.
We were well prepared, even providing a vegan sausage option – unfortunately, this wasn’t popular with the majority of diners! With lots of children in attendance, the juice poppers rapidly disappeared!
While it somewhat difficult to know how to cater for the demand, we had plenty of supplies and had a few leftovers which the ground crew appreciated.
In addition to raising over $500 for Dementia Australia, the remaining bread at the end of the day was donated to St John's Care.