Sydney’s charity queens ready to raise money for good causes post-Covid
After almost two years of cancelled events and fundraising shortfalls due to the Covid pandemic, Sydney’s fundraising queens are finally back in action for the causes close to their hearts.
Lifestyle
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Christobel Hoeben follows Maggi Eckardt around the dance floor, pinning black and white pompoms on women as they twirl in their glittering ballgowns. It is the 1970s and on Sydney society’s most glamorous night, the twirlers are vying to be crowned best dressed.
The Black and White Committee Ball’s “dance of the dresses” has taken over the Sydney Trocadero and the art deco dance hall is full of the city’s glitterati, sipping champagne between dances.
It is high society at its finest, in its finest – and the pompoms, well they have been
lovingly handmade by committee members including Hoeben in the lead-up to the popular annual event.
“They were such wonderful days, it really is a bygone era,” says the charity stalwart, today reflecting on her service with the Black and White Committee raising money for Vision Australia, and in particular, children with sight issues, stretching back to 1972.
That’s almost 50 years of organising the committee’s famous balls, lunches, bridge parties and cocktail functions and, like so many of its longstanding members, she shows no signs of slowing down.
Especially not now, with 18 months of time lost to the pandemic to catch up on.
“Longstanding president at the time, Nola Dekyvere, knew my mother and asked my mother if I would be interested in joining the committee, which I did,” Hoeben explains.
“Initially we had our balls at the old Trocadero and it was wonderful. Everyone did make an incredible effort to get dressed up and it was such an occasion, the gowns were absolutely gorgeous. These days people just wear anything and I think it’s such a shame. I loved the old-fashioned days.
“We had jockey races and best-dressed competitions, which you wouldn’t do these days. We had to make these black and white pompoms and we had Maggi Eckardt (the first Australian model to conquer the elite world of international haute couture fashion) and I was her offsider, so while women were dancing she would say ‘Christobel, put a pompom on that one’ and at the end of the music score, the ones who weren’t given pompoms had to leave the dance floor.
“There was a first, second and third and the prizes were really fabulous like diamond rings and beautiful jewellery.
“The army or a big band would play and behind the scenes we would all get together and have working bees and make all the decorations ourselves. It really was a different time.
“It’s such a bygone era. No one has balls like that these days and the young people aren’t really interested.”
The Balmoral resident says while the Black and White Committee, which turns 85 this year, still holds its traditions dear, it has also changed with the times to maintain a presence in Sydney’s social circle.
“I suppose society was a bit different to what it is now,” she reflects.
“I think we had more time back in the day – the ladies didn’t work – but to make a go of it these days, young people all have to work. Then it was the ladies of leisure who went to lunches and things.
“Now we love having young people at our events and are always trying to recruit young people who want to help, but their time is limited.
“It might be someone’s daughter or friend or you might meet someone somewhere who says they would like to help, so we invite them to a monthly meeting. But you do have to give a lot of your time.
“Things don’t just happen; there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. It’s not all glamorous.”
Hoeben was the youngest member at the time she joined a committee comprising “a lot of grand Sydney society ladies”.
The “glue” that has held the committee together for the past 21 years has been Susan Diver, a Black and White member since 1974.
She first joined the committee when she discovered her favourite English teacher at school was going blind.
“I went to my first Black and White Ball when I was in university, so that’s been a long time. My predecessors never wanted the ball to die and I don’t either,” Diver says.
“We really try to work as a team, and everyone has important roles and likes to be involved with different activities pertaining to the committee’s various fundraising events.
“It’s a huge juggling act, but we’ve built up a great database of supporters over the years and we love what we do.”
While many older, longtime volunteers are stepping away, Diver says there are 20 or 30 “younger ones” in the 60-strong committee to keep the traditions going.
Many of those now picking up the baton are committee members’ daughters, including Diver’s own.
Now 41 with two children of her own, Sarah Cobby remembers her mum being heavily involved with the cause in her teenage years and taking over the presidency when she was 18.
“It was a great age to then start dressing up for balls and the social aspect was a great highlight and a celebration of all their hard work, but for me, I loved watching her show such leadership and give speeches and work tirelessly to be an event organiser, which was not her background at all,” Cobby says.
“As a family we will always be involved and support the committee that has been a big part of our lives.”
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The committee holds a number of events each year, including Cobby’s favourite, The Women Of Achievement Luncheon, celebrating inspirational Australian women.
“You just walk away feeling so inspired and amazed at how much women can achieve and multitask,” she says.
“And they always have excellent speakers. One year they had Dame Edna Everage which was so interesting because there is still that traditional element to the committee.”
On November 16, the Black and White committee gathers for its first event post-Covid, kickstarting their social calendar with the Lifestyle Lunch at Otto Restaurant.
Tickets sold out in just 24 hours, underlining just how keen everyone is to get back in the swing of fundraising.
“(Mum) missed it so much. You could tell in lockdown it was an outlet for her. It’s her way of giving back and I think a lot of the committee felt like they’d lost something, not being able to continue on with the work they do,” Cobby says.
“She’s got quite the legacy.”
REMEMBERING ALEGRA
Sue-Ellan Vasiliou and her husband Marino lost their six-year-old daughter Alegra to brain cancer in October of 2017, the same month the Charlie Teo Foundation launched.
Since then, they have raised more than $1.2m to support the work of Dr Teo by setting up their own charity, the Little Legs Foundation.
In 2019, Vasiliou organised her first charity ball and raised $483,563 on that one night.
“Raising money to pass on to the Charlie Teo Foundation is a no-brainer for us,” the
39-year-old Earlwood woman says.
“Dr Teo was Alegra’s surgeon and now our friend. Charlie stood high and above for us, he treated Alegra like Alegra, not just another patient – he gave us hope that our child deserved.”
With lockdown over, Vasiliou is also gearing up to resume fundraising.
She works in the family business and with two other children has a busy family schedule but when asked how she finds the time to run a charity, her answer is simple. Any parent would do anything for their child.
“The email I respond to would be equivalent to the note in Alegra’s diary I would respond to; the functions held, the endless parties I would have arranged to celebrate our big girl,” she says.
“All the hours spent on Little Legs (balls) would never even come close to the time spent raising, loving and watching Alegra shine.”
Last year, Vasiliou was named a Westfield local hero and received a $10,000 grant to be used each September, and over Alegra’s birthday weekend Little Legs runs a Coffee For A Cure initiative with local cafes.
Postponed this year, the event will now take place on November 26-28.
“We are very lucky to have the support we do,” says Vasiliou, who also runs the foundation’s website and social media platforms.
“We have just launched our Daisy Garden where you are able to send, dedicate or buy a daisy and virtually plant it in our garden. The daisy was adopted as our symbol of hope as it represents innocence and purity, much like childhood and unconditional love like that shared between parent and child.
“There needs to be better treatments and a cure for this disease hurting too many of our little friends and their families. If we can play a small role in that, we are honoured.”
The next Little Legs Ball will be held on September 10, 2022, and planning is already in full swing.
“Little Legs is always on. If there is something to do, it doesn’t matter what time of the day or night it is, I get it done.”
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Jackie Bourn has helped raise more than $2m for the Children’s Cancer Institute of Australia through the annual Balmoral Swim, a series of races put on by the Balmoral Beach Club, of which she has been a member since 2005.
Now retired, the Mosman resident swims most days – the perfect way to start the day, she says – and gives a lot to the club that supports her passion for the water.
“You meet a lot of like minded people there, and one of the things that is important to the club is that we get back to the community, and since 2006 we’ve been raising money for children’s cancer,” Bourn says.
In a normal year, there would be thousands of people taking to the water in the Balmoral Swim, with Bourn among those tasked with
co-ordinating 100 volunteers to make the event possible.
While the April event had to be cancelled last year, this year the charity did things
a bit differently to meet Covid restrictions, and still managed to raise more than $136,000 – every dollar having a profound effect on childhood cancer.
“It is a big job but people want to help,” Bourn says.
“Look at what the Children’s Cancer Institute has done since they started – originally, if you were a child with cancer, it was a death sentence.
“To see their work and to see what a difference they’re making to people – well you just can’t walk away from that.”
POWER OF FRIENDSHIP
Cremorne’s Lou Hunter was a dear friend of “Gidget”, the woman who inspired her closest friends to start The Gidget Foundation in her honour 20 years ago, after she tragically took her own life, suffering unrecognised postnatal depression.
“Tragically, Gidget left this world nine months after her much loved and wanted daughter was born,” Hunter says.
“She was such a vibrant and usually happy person but she had kept her suffering well hidden.
“Myself, along with some other friends of Gidget’s, including her two sisters, were supporting each other in our grief, and through doing so we realised that we needed to shed light on the issue of the lack of peri-natal mental health support to new parents, as we could see we were not alone and no one should have to go through what Gidget experienced alone.
“Gidget’s passing had such a profound effect on all of us that we knew we needed to honour her.”
The annual Gidget Ladies Lunch is usually sold out, but like so many charitable events was cancelled for the past two years due to Covid.
Planning for 2022’s event is now well underway, with the event now set down for March 18. The charity has raised more than a million dollars over the years, and gets it done by working closely as a team on fundraising events.
“After 20 years of experience of organising these events we now know what to expect in regards to timing, resources and volunteers,” the 54-year-old fashion stylist and Carla Zampatti sales manager explains.
“Our events have become must-attends in that time, in particular the annual Gidget Ladies Lunch where the numbers are now reaching 1500 guests and selling out in one day.”
Hunter says while each event brings up raw emotions, having the support of an amazing committee makes all the difference.
“I have always found the memories of my dear friend a driving force to surpass our goals for each event,” she says.
All hands on deck
At the end of the Raise Foundation’s Sparkle Ball every year, Mosman’s Su Cordiner looks around, takes it all in and treats herself to a champagne and a big sigh of relief.
Because after six months of planning, around-the-clock organisation and following precise run sheets to the minute, the committee can sit back and toast to their success, knowing they have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It’s such a relief when you can stop, and high five and go ‘wow, we did it’,” Cordiner says.
“It’s a lot of stress, and it’s manic on the day. It’s literally all hands on deck, and that’s where an experienced committee comes in. But at the end of the night, the committee is proud that we pulled it off and everybody’s had a fun time and are there for the right reasons – it’s very special.”
Cordiner first met Raise Foundation founder Vicki Condon in 2012. She had the time to volunteer and felt connected to Raise’s concept of youth mentoring.
“I said to her I … could help with fundraising but there was no corporate money coming in,” she says.
“So we started going after corporate funding and then all of a sudden it just started to flow and fall into place.
“We now employ five people doing what I was doing as a volunteer. It really is a different charity to what it was then.”
The Raise mentoring program is now national and the network is constantly expanding.
The 2019 Sparkle Ball raised more than $350,000 in one night but cancelling the past two years’ events left them with a $700,000 shortfall. But refusing to give up, the committee came up with The Sparkle Club, where guests who would have attended the ball, instead make a donation to Raise of what they would have spent on a dress, a babysitter, an Uber or dry cleaning the tux. And it’s working.
“Raise is a really special organisation and I’ve gotten so much more out of it than I ever imagined possible,” Cordiner says.
“And my family is involved – my daughter volunteers at the Sparkle Ball, my husband is a mentor this year – it’s such a positive experience.”
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