PREPARATIONS are all but finalised for a major fundraising event this Sunday at Central Park to raise money for Leisa Cassidy.
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Leisa is continuing her fight against Multiple Myeloma, which she was first diagnosed with in 2010.
As Leisa and the Cassidy family continue the battle, a group of family and friends has banded together to organise the fundraiser on Sunday and the event has grown beyond belief.
Co-organiser Susan Byron, who is netball director with the Stawell Warriors Football Netball Club, said she had been overwhelmed by the generosity of business operators and individuals within the Stawell and district community.
"We have received great support from tradespeople and nearly every business in Stawell has donated something, whether it is to do with Sunday's event or for the family," Mrs Byron said.
"Our aim was to try and raise enough money to help build an ensuite for Leisa, so she has easy access to her own bathroom and not have to walk quite a distance to the family bathroom.
"At this stage, we have the ensuite covered just from donations from businesses and tradesmen offering their time. It has been a fantastic response.
"We're now thinking of extending what we can do for the family, to include renovation of the main bathroom and also the bedrooms to make life easier for Leisa. Our aim is to raise as much money as we can and attract as much support from the tradies as we can, to see this happen."
The Leisa Cassidy family fun day fundraiser will be staged at Central Park on Sunday from 11am. The day will include live entertainment, market stalls, jumping castles, raffles and auction items, showbags, face painting, temporary tattoos, helium balloons and much more.
There will be barbecues operating and other food items for sale throughout the day, including pizzas, kebabs, Mr Whippy ice cream, slushies and fairy floss.
The whole of Victoria Street will be closed to traffic to create a festival atmosphere for the day as well.
Four car clubs from the region will have their vehicles on display, while the State Emergency Service and Country Fire Authority will also have displays set up. There will be 26 market stalls in total selling a variety of items.
Mrs Byron said she expected auction items to attract strong bidding on the day. The items include a signed Collingwood jumper and football, signed Hawthorn jumper, Adelaide Strikers jumper worn and signed by Tim Ludeman, a Brisbane Lions jumper signed by Jonathon Brown, a signed and framed photograph of Mike Hussey and a 2000 Essendon jumper signed by Kevin Sheedy and James Hird, to name just a few.
There are also several items that have been donated by Stawell and district businesses that will be auctioned.
In total, about 50 items will be up for auction, while there will also be more than 50 prizes up for grabs in the raffle.
Mrs Byron said both the Stawell Football and Netball Club, along with the Navarre community and Navarre Football Netball Club, had been fantastic with their support for the day.
"All we need now is for a big crowd to turn out and support the event," she said.
"We have buses from Warrnambool and Horsham, so combine that with local support and we're expecting a good crowd."
Auskick will kick off on Sunday at 11.30am, followed by a mothers and daughters netball match from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
The Twenty/20 cricket clash will get underway from 1.30pm and for every six that is hit during the match, Norton Ford will donate $50 to the Leisa Cassidy appeal.