Your imagination is the limit when it comes to finding ways to fundraise.  It’s sometimes easier to ask family and friends to be part of an event rather than asking for donations.  You can make the event as big or as small as you want, but you can turn anything into a way to raise funds and awareness for Sands.

Each dollar you raise counts!  It ensures we can continue to help grieving parents navigate life without their baby in their arms. We're constantly inspired by what our community fundraisers, like Melbourne's Lynton and Cara Joseph, can achieve with planning, passion and a whole lot of love. 

“Fundraising for Sands, you can see the results straight away. The money helps run training and education sessions for the hospital staff who care for parents like us, it pays for the production of information booklets – really practical things." - Lynton Joseph

For Melbourne couple Lynton and Cara Joseph, fundraising for Sands started as a labour of love in honour of their baby son, Jonty, who was stillborn in May 2016.

Struck by the silence surrounding stillbirth, Lynton and Cara conceived of the idea of holding a family-friendly day at their local tennis club that would bring together parents whose babies had died, as well as the wider community, to shine a light on what is too often an invisible loss.

“When they couldn’t find Jonty’s heartbeat it was a big shock,” said Cara.  “We didn’t know how common it was. We didn’t know anything. No one had ever talked to us about miscarriage or stillbirth or anything like that.”

It wasn’t until Lynton and Cara attended a Sands face-to-face support group in the months after Jonty died that they began to realise theirs was a grief shared by over 1700 families in Australia each year whose babies are stillborn.

“Knowing that other people have experienced it every day since, we felt determined to make meaning from the experience and to help others in Jonty’s memory,” Cara added.

Their event – The Longest Rally in Support of Sands – raised almost $10,000 for Sands thanks to the incredible financial and practical support of Lynton and Cara’s friends and families, and generous sponsorship from local businesses and their tennis club community.

“People’s generosity blew us away. So many people donated their time, skills, connections and funds to make the event a success,” Lynton said.

Lynton and Cara said there was no winning formula behind their fundraising success, just a range of activities that ensured everyone would have a busy and enjoyable day out.

They ran a simple but successful BBQ, silent auction, multiple raffles, tennis clinics, market stalls, children’s craft activities and more.

Sharing their own personal story of stillbirth as part of organising the event proved an important opportunity for Cara and Lynton to connect with others as well as to reflect on their own journey to parenthood.

“Helping others really helped our grieving. We were really grateful Sands was there for us and it felt really good to give back.”

Lynton said fundraising for Sands was a really rewarding experience – not just because of their own personal connection to the cause but because of the tangible impact donations can have on a small volunteer-led charity.

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