‘Bikies’ to ride into Ballina for a good cause
Three Illawarra motorbike riders will be riding into Ballina tomorrow, March 6, as they continue to take their pint-sized motor scooters over 5000km in a bid to raise money for the much misunderstood condition, autism.
They are riding from Wollongong to Cairns and back over a three-week period, incorporating 22 pit stops in towns along the way. They will be in Ballina on Thursday 6th March from midday on.
Chris Newbold is a worker at Bluescope Steel at Port Kembla Wollongong doing 12-hour rotating shift work.
His daughter, Courtney, was diagnosed with autism in 2004 and he says from then on he and his wife have been on a roller coaster of emotions of guilt, denial, blame, lack of understanding, despair, sheer misery and not knowing what to do next.
With the growing diagnosis rate of children with autism (it effects 1 in 160 people in Australia), many families are put on ever-increasing waiting lists for schools that cater specially for children with autism or are forced to look elsewhere missing out on much needed specialised education.
Courtney was on the waiting list of her local South Coast School for Children with Autism for two and a half years and the school is just not big enough .
There are several other employees at Bluescope that have children with autism and the idea of the ride was developed late one night while they were doing a night shift: 22 towns in 23 days to raise funds for new classroooms and to hand out information about Autism to increase awareness about the highest growing mental condition in children.
The riders will be in Ballina from 12 midday Thursday 6th March and the combined Ballina and East Ballina Lions Clubs will be holding a fundraising BBQ for them in the Coles carpark. T
he Lions invite you to come along and show your support by saying ‘hello’ and buying a sausage sandwich for lunch.
