Canberrans sweat it out for local charities
Some people think that playing tennis on a 39-degree day is madness. However, last Thursday, a bunch of community-minded Canberrans got together to sweat it out for a good cause.
The P2 Invitational is a corporate charity tennis event, sponsored by P2 Advisory and Harvey Norman Commercial and hosted at Canberra Tennis Centre in Lyneham. This year, two locally-based organisations were the beneficiaries of the funds raised: AFFIRM and Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation.
Three Australian greats; former world No 15. Wally Masur, former world No 25. John Fitzgerald and former world No 22. Darren Cahill attended helped to make the event a huge huge success. Across the 24 teams competing for the Championship, the many donations reached a total in excess of $127,000.
P2 (P Squared) Advisory, Managing Director, Mark Peatey was ecstatic with the result “we set out to raise $100,000 and have absolutely smashed that record today” he said “these funds are truly transformational to these charities and we are so grateful to all the businesses that have participated in the day or donated.”
AFFIRM received $60,435 which will be used to fully fund a program for youth suicide prevention in schools and Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation received a total of $67,715, which will be used to establish a specialist children’s childcare to provide respite to families with sick or terminally ill children.
“I am absolutely thrilled with the donation we have received today!” said Suzanne Tunks, CEO & Founder of Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation. “The Stella Bella Children’s Centre is going to be a very special place and we can’t wait to open the doors!”
Belinda Kenyon from AFFIRM was humbled with the result saying “raising funds for research is always a challenge, so we are very grateful to have been selected by P2. Our project will be literally life-saving. We are so appreciative of the support we have received today.”
The overall goal is to raise $1 million for Canberra based charities by 2020.