Self-proclaimed normal, middle-aged women, Margita Downey and Shelley Harvie, over the last three years have committed to doing something truly extraordinary for the schools in which they were chaplains.
Each year, they have undertaken a 500km bicycle ride to raise money for their chaplaincy services, to ensure that their presence is felt for many years to come. Known as the Happy Chappy Riders, this has become a lot more than just fundraising to Margita, Shelley and the school communities.
“The ride brings hope to some of the kids who might be struggling. I’ve seen the impact it can have when I share with them about the struggles I encounter during training and on the ride. If I can do this, they might see that they can do great things too. When you talk after the ride with the kids and you express to them all of the adventures and struggles that happened along the way, they get really excited and fired up to do something great,” Chappy Margita says.
Margita and Shelley were both chaplains at Tannum Sands State High School and Gladstone South Primary School, respectively, when this annual event began. Margita has since moved to a chaplaincy position at Cavendish Road State High School in Brisbane’s South and Shelley to a Children’s Worker position at a local church in Brisbane, however Happy Chappy Riders continues with both ladies keen to support such a worthy cause.
Previously employed in the same district, Margita and Shellie had worked on fundraising events together, before the idea came about to undertake a big bike ride to raise much-needed funds.
“A whole bunch of us from the Gladstone district would get together and organise large scale fundraising events because on your own it’s hard to make anything happen. But when you have a whole group of you working on it as a joint event, it’s a lot better. Everyone can use their skills and talents. That’s how I became good friends with Shelley, because she was also interested in giving cycling a go.”
“We weren’t cyclists before that but we had an idea that we should do a big fundraiser bicycle ride where we ride a huge distance that we don’t think we can make and then we get people to donate towards the cause. Everyone thought that was a pretty good idea so we started training.”
The training schedule was pretty intense but the chappies were committed to seeing it through.
“It took about 4 or 5 months training about twice a week on the bike. And as it came closer to the event, we began training every day for about an hour at a time. We also did a couple of really long rides of about 70km, as part of our training, just to see how we would go. And of course, we spoke to people who do cycling professionally and got ideas from them.”
Once the idea and plans were off the ground, the pair and their teams kicked into gear to promote the ride and the cause it represented.
“During this time our Local Chaplaincy Committees were supporting the event by marketing it, putting it in the newspaper. Shelley and I were obviously promoting it in our own schools and churches, and telling the kids and the whole school community what we were doing and why we were doing it. We also set up a GoRegister account online to give people the opportunity to give online and we did that through SU QLD Brisbane office. We then promoted that giving option through Facebook, just to try and reach a bigger audience.”
Utilising Facebook as a way to promote the event and keep their supporters updated, the pair have found it very useful as a communication tool.
“I think it’s very useful if you have a lot of contacts already. Together, between the two of us, we don’t have a lot of contacts but with the amount we do have, it was pretty successful, I think.”
Last year’s ride took place in September and both ladies found it another incredible experience.
“Along the way, we met a lot of people. The way we do the ride is to ride from one town to the next. We rode from Roma to Brisbane. It’s normally about 100km between each town and so in total it takes about 5 days. We stop at the towns and talk to the locals. People will often ask us “What are you doing?” and we just talk about it and tell them. It raises awareness for chaplaincy as well. Everyone was really excited by the idea and thought it was great that we were getting out there.
“The kids at my school were amazed and also supported us beautifully. They thought it was great that I would do that just for them.”
Raising over $2000, last year’s event saw the pair surpass their goal which is a fantastic effort.
Despite Shelley being in a non-chaplaincy role this year, they are planning on continuing the annual event and we would like to wish the ladies all the best on their ride in 2016. Good luck, Margita and Shelley!
Tips:
- Utilise GoRegister payment processing facilities to give supporters an online option to support your cause.
- Contact SU QLD Brisbane Office to get advice about setting one up.
- Use Facebook as a way to communicate with your event’s supporters and participants
- It can be a cost-effective way to keep everyone updated and an online presence for those who want more information.
- Form a team for each fundraiser so that you can utilise all the unique skills and talents of those in your group.
- Approach experts in the field for advice
- If your fundraiser involves complicated elements, don’t hesitate contacting individuals who are experienced in the area that you are exploring. This is an easy way to avoid potential pitfalls which may not be necessarily self-evident to newcomers.
- Consider outsourcing specific aspects if you don’t think one of your team can manage the task (e.g. Catering, Logistics, Security).