Clothes for a Cause raised more than $3000 for stroke awareness on the weekend.
The brainchild of Ocean Grove local Petti Petinella saw hundreds of items of clothing donated and sold at a huge function at Memorial Reserve on Saturday.
All 100 tickets were sold and the final tally was $3120.25 for the Stroke Foundation.
“It was such a big day,” Petti said.
“We sold all 100 tickets and we had an aim to raise $1000 but exceeded that three times over.
“It was the perfect day and it would be nice to do something for a different cause next year.
“It really was a community effort. I couldn’t have done it all by myself.”
Petti started Clothes for a Cause after a much-loved customer at her Ocean Grove Hotel succumbed to a stroke.
Her friend Gemma suffered a stroke in May, but will make a full recovery.
“Dianne Grayland-Speed, who is a volunteer from the Stroke Foundation, spoke beautifully and shared her own inspiring story of stroke survival, after suffering a stroke at age 26, just hours after giving birth to her first child,” Petti said.
“The afternoon was spent shopping and sharing stories of friends and family who have all been touched by Stroke in some way.”
Somewhere within Australia a stroke occurs approximately every nine minutes without prejudice to age, gender, race or even level of health.
Physically it may only affect one person but the ripple effect to family and friends can be tremendous for many different reasons including financial, loss of independence or sometimes, tragically, the passing of a loved one.
The Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads community has felt this ripple effect several times already this year due to strokes occurring to several wonderful people, to different extents.
