Three CIKA Living Treasures

Members of the CIKA committee work well together but the individual strengths of the team are what make CIKA strong and cohesive.

Today at the RCH Auxiliaries annual general meeting three members of the team were recognised for their individual skills, their commitment and the length of their service to CIKA.

Colleen and David Clift came to CIKA in the years following their son James’s diagnosis and eventual successful treatment for rhabdomyosarcoma.  They both brought to CIKA skills that were much needed.  Colleen brought with her the support of the students from Methodist Ladies’ College where she was at that time a teacher of science; CIKA still continues to benefit from the efforts of the girls who continue the fundraising activities that Colleen established.  She also took on the role of editor of the CIKA newsletter which, thanks to her hard work, has now evolved to its current form as an E-Newsletter, enabling it to be produced more rapidly thereby making its content more immediate.

David became the official CIKA webmaster and his mastery of language and his ability to put together promptly the pictures and stories that we email to him keeps the website current.  During the last year Colleen and David, aided by Colleen’s sister, Rosalie Livingstone, took on the immense role of transferring the many files from the old CIKA website to create the one that you are now reading.  This task took many months and, in the spirit of CIKA, cost very little.

Ruth (Rocket) Edelsten had been involved with CIKA on the periphery for many years, this was through her much loved friend and CIKA supporter Lesley McKibbin.  Ruth lives in Bendigo and, through her local connections, developed a vast number of contacts in this lovely city.  She is tireless in her efforts to raise funds for CIKA.  On average Ruth has one fundraiser a week.  In addition to her monthly stall at the Trentham Sunday market which has a range of donated goods for sale, Ruth organises fundraising activities in a variety of venues throughout the year.  These include market stalls far and wide and very popular social events. She has the Bendigo posties on the hop and, thanks to her, they have a monthly raffle for CIKA.  Every year Ruth holds a major fete and is often on hand to help with Melbourne fundraisers.  She is fully supported in this massive workload by her husband John.

Congratulations to all.