This week we are featuring a fundraising hero with a heart-warming idea! Karena put together a reunion baseball game for her Dad to celebrate his baseball career and raise funds for Parkinson’s. With the help of friends, family and the Club community, Karena raised $1,515 for Shake It Up to further Parkinson’s research towards a cure.

We spoke with Karena to hear more about her motivation.

What inspires your commitment to a cure for Parkinson’s?

I never knew a lot of about Parkinsons until my dad was diagnosed and I think the more people that are aware, maybe the closer we are to finding a cure for it.

Tell us about your fundraising experience.

My dad has been around WA Baseball/Softball/Teeball for over 40 years and due to his declining health I decided to put together a Reunion game for him to show how much everyone has appreciated his efforts.

I spoke with a few people I knew and we arranged shirts & hats for the day. After the costs where worked out, we decided to donate the left over to Parkinson’s Research. The people that wanted to help out on and before the day was amazing.

Kelly from I Scream Print arranged the shirts and was really great by donating her time to get the orders together. Brendan Maccione & the Maccione Family put some funds together to get the hats sorted and Tyler Keeping from Rothwell helped subsidise the players shirts.

Thanks to everyone that played, coached, helped out or just came down to celebrate.  The day would not have been as successful without all these people.

At the end of the day we ended up Raising $1515.00  for Shake It Up Australia.   A big thank you also goes to Rockingham Baseball Club for letting us carry out the event and included in the $1515 was $465 donated from the club drinks sales from the day.

What was the most rewarding part of fundraising?

Getting to see my dads face when he realised all these people where there for him was absolutely priceless.  Being able to join a fun get together and fund raising made it the icing on the cake.  It’s a great feeling to know that we have raised money that’s going to a good cause.

Could you fundraise for Parkinson’s? 100% of the funds you raise will go directly to cutting-edge Australian Parkinson’s research. Find out more and make a difference.