Appeal tally hits $4 million

RCH patient, two-year-old Lexi West enjoys Good Friday at Etihad Stadium with her brother Jed (7) and sister Evie (6). Picture: Tony Gough Source: Herald Sun

Tayla Sladdin, 2, has cystic fibrosis and needs specialist help to keep her lungs clear and functioning. Picture: Jay Town Source: Herald Sun

VICTORIANS have pledged almost $6 million in donations for the courageous kids at Royal Children's Hospital as part of the Good Friday Appeal.

At 9am the tally sat at $88,000 in donations and has jumped more than $5 million to a whopping $5,815,494 at 4pm, as Victorians get behind the Royal Children's Hospital.

Victorian youngsters have been pledging their pocket money to help the appeal.

The total more than tripled earlier this morning after a $2 million donation from the Herald Sun Citylink Run for the Kids event.

More than 35,000 competitors helped raise the extraordinary donation last Sunday at the fun run News Victoria Regional Director, Mark Gardy described as an "incredible event".

The substantial donation took the Good Friday Appeal tally to a huge $3,047,959 just before midday.

Collingwood guns Darren Jolly and Ben Hudson, along with his son Ignatius, joined the desk to help take pledges, as well as players from the Melbourne Vixens netball team and a host of volunteers.

Earlier today generous Victorians pledged more than $645,000 in just over an hour with the tally growing from $388,193 at 10am to $1,035,083 just after 11am.

Premier Denis Napthine urged Victorians to continue to be "very generous".

Track the tally:

9am - $88,000

10am - $388, 193

11am - $992, 663

11:15am - $1,035,083.80

11:45am - $3,047, 959

12pm - $3,211,556

1pm - $3,566,930

2pm - $3,971,237

2:15pm - $4,049,067

3pm - $4,561,138

4pm - $5,815494

Over at the Royal Children's Hospital, the Easter bunny and footballers stopped by to visit the brave patients.

Roy Thierry (aged 8, from Geelong) who is in the RCH with Wilms Cancer, gets to meet visiting Richmond F.C. Players. Picture: Jay Town Source: Herald Sun

Roy Thierry, 8, was chuffed to meet Richmond players who posed for photos with the Geelong boy in his room on the oncology ward.
 
"I’ve shaken Chappy’s (Paul Chapman) hand before, but I haven’t got up close to a player before," he said.
 
Roy was diagnosed with Wilms Cancer, a rare cancer of the kidneys, 12 months ago.
 
But the tumour has returned and he has been at the RCH for the past eight weeks.
 
"The hospital does an incredible job. They do everything they can for the kids, but they need more money to help with research," said mum Joanne.

AFL players from the Western Bulldogs, Richmond, North Melbourne and Carlton have also visited the wards, handing out signed posters and posing for photos with their littlest fans.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the Good Friday appeal was so important as the Royal Children's Hospital was iconic for Victorians.

"RCH has touched so many people and so many families," he said.

"The way people get behind it shows where RCH sits in our hearts."

The Royal Children's Hospital is asking Victorians to dig deep and help raise more than $15.8 million to support their brave little patients,including strong little toddler Vida Dziduch, who is in intensive care after an 11 hour surgery on her brain.

Chemist Warehouse bosses helped kickstart the appeal, donating a substantial $27,000 this morning.

About 100,000 people will be fundraising and rattling tins at traffic lights across Victoria today, aiming to top last year's total for the Royal Children's Hospital's 82nd appeal.

The hospital's wish list includes a mounted ear microscope with video capabilities to replace the current equipment that is more than 30 years old.

Premature babies suspected of having eye diseases would be diagnosed more quickly through the purchase of a new eye examination trolley.

Donate to the Good Friday Appeal

An ultrasound for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit would allow the sickest children to be assessed in their beds, eliminating the need to move them.

Patients at RCH will be visited by a host of celebrities today, but Black Caviar jockey Luke Nolen got in first to spread some joy among sick kids at the hospital.

Dressed in his salmon and black polka dot racing silks, he handed out soft horse toys and signed caps.

Nolen signed autographs and posed for photos in the wards, and said visiting the children put things in perspective.

"It's only a small help to them I suppose, the little toys and caps," Nolen said.

"It's lucky I ride a famous horse."

Donate to the Good Friday Appeal

The champion jockey revealed he had spent extended spells in hospital as a teenager and paid tribute to the hard-working staff of the Royal Children's.

"It breaks your heart, some of the stuff I saw in hospital when I was a kid," he said.

"They do a fantastic job, the Royal Children's and the Good Friday appeal, itself.

"There are wonderful staff in these types of hospitals. It requires a gentle person and very giving people, and they do it day in day out, who comfort kids as best they can and get them all better most of the time," Nolen said.

The annual telethon for the Royal Children's Good Friday Appeal starts at 9am today and runs until midnight, while a family fun day is being held on the outer concourse of Etihad Stadium from 10am-4pm.

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120 million wash away sins at festival

A Bihari Hindu priest, smeared with coloured powder, looks on after the completion of a ritual at the Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati during the Maha Kumbh festival. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

THE world's biggest religious festival has concluded with nearly two million pilgrims taking a dip in an Indian holy river that washed away the sins of 120 million people in the last 60 days.

The Kumbh Mela, celebrated every 12 years at the conjunction of two sacred rivers on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Allahabad, drew massive crowds of devotees, ascetics and foreign tourists.

The two-month-long Kumbh Mela ended on the occasion of Mahashivratri, a major Hindu festival celebrated across India and Nepal.

Authorities at the festival on Sunday said the last batch of holy men marked the end of the Kumbh by plunging into the river Ganges and other pilgrims filled the "Ganga Jal" (holy water) in plastic bottles for religious ceremonies at home.

Many naked saints smeared their bodies with ashes and sand, chanted final prayers and departed from the venue.

"Over 60 million people attended the festival in 2001 and this time we believe 120 million people have participated," festival chief Mani Prasad Mishra said late on Saturday.

The festival involves crowd management on a jaw-dropping scale and despite all the precautions in place was hit by tragedy last month when a stampede at a train station in Allahabad killed 36 pilgrims who were returning home.

Indian Sant Asaram Bapu (unseen)with his followers during the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad. Picture: AFP

Assorted dreadlocked, naked holy men, priests and self-proclaimed saints from all over the country assembled for the spectacle that offers a rare glimpse of the dizzying range of Indian spiritualism.

Despite the hardships of waking early, plunging into the polluted river water and the relentless crush of the crowds, pilgrims from all over the world described feeling spiritually uplifted and amazed by the scale of the event.

"There is a sense of relief because the festival finally is coming to an end. Most of the pilgrims have returned back home," said Mr Mishra.

He said the job of dismantling the infrastructure that sprawled over 2000 hectares to house the pilgrims had already begun.

"We built a tent city to celebrate the Kumbh Mela and now we are tearing it down," he said.

Mr Mishra said five electrical sub-stations and tens of thousands of streetlights that gave the improvised city its yellow glow between dusk and dawn would be removed by Sunday night.

Naga sadhus - Hindu holy men - take out a religious procession to offer holy water from the Ganges. Picture: AFP

All police stations, mobile field hospitals, fire stations, shops, and cafes were now shut and more than 35,000 makeshift toilets had been removed, he said.

The Kumbh Mela has its origins in Hindu mythology, which describes how a few drops of the nectar of immortality fell on the four places that host the festival - Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.

The "Mother Ganges" is worshipped as a god and is seen as the giver and taker of life. In many cases, pilgrims used up all their money to come to the Kumbh Mela, hoping that their prayers could come true.

"People from all walks of life participate in the festival but there is one thing common among all of them - they have a desire to lead a pure life," said Chandra Bala, a temple priest in Allahabad city.

"The power of the Kumbh Mela is the power of humanity."
 

View the original article here

120 million wash away sins at festival

A Bihari Hindu priest, smeared with coloured powder, looks on after the completion of a ritual at the Sangam, the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati during the Maha Kumbh festival. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

THE world's biggest religious festival has concluded with nearly two million pilgrims taking a dip in an Indian holy river that washed away the sins of 120 million people in the last 60 days.

The Kumbh Mela, celebrated every 12 years at the conjunction of two sacred rivers on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Allahabad, drew massive crowds of devotees, ascetics and foreign tourists.

The two-month-long Kumbh Mela ended on the occasion of Mahashivratri, a major Hindu festival celebrated across India and Nepal.

Authorities at the festival on Sunday said the last batch of holy men marked the end of the Kumbh by plunging into the river Ganges and other pilgrims filled the "Ganga Jal" (holy water) in plastic bottles for religious ceremonies at home.

Many naked saints smeared their bodies with ashes and sand, chanted final prayers and departed from the venue.

"Over 60 million people attended the festival in 2001 and this time we believe 120 million people have participated," festival chief Mani Prasad Mishra said late on Saturday.

The festival involves crowd management on a jaw-dropping scale and despite all the precautions in place was hit by tragedy last month when a stampede at a train station in Allahabad killed 36 pilgrims who were returning home.

Indian Sant Asaram Bapu (unseen)with his followers during the Kumbh Mela festival in Allahabad. Picture: AFP

Assorted dreadlocked, naked holy men, priests and self-proclaimed saints from all over the country assembled for the spectacle that offers a rare glimpse of the dizzying range of Indian spiritualism.

Despite the hardships of waking early, plunging into the polluted river water and the relentless crush of the crowds, pilgrims from all over the world described feeling spiritually uplifted and amazed by the scale of the event.

"There is a sense of relief because the festival finally is coming to an end. Most of the pilgrims have returned back home," said Mr Mishra.

He said the job of dismantling the infrastructure that sprawled over 2000 hectares to house the pilgrims had already begun.

"We built a tent city to celebrate the Kumbh Mela and now we are tearing it down," he said.

Mr Mishra said five electrical sub-stations and tens of thousands of streetlights that gave the improvised city its yellow glow between dusk and dawn would be removed by Sunday night.

Naga sadhus - Hindu holy men - take out a religious procession to offer holy water from the Ganges. Picture: AFP

All police stations, mobile field hospitals, fire stations, shops, and cafes were now shut and more than 35,000 makeshift toilets had been removed, he said.

The Kumbh Mela has its origins in Hindu mythology, which describes how a few drops of the nectar of immortality fell on the four places that host the festival - Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.

The "Mother Ganges" is worshipped as a god and is seen as the giver and taker of life. In many cases, pilgrims used up all their money to come to the Kumbh Mela, hoping that their prayers could come true.

"People from all walks of life participate in the festival but there is one thing common among all of them - they have a desire to lead a pure life," said Chandra Bala, a temple priest in Allahabad city.

"The power of the Kumbh Mela is the power of humanity."
 

View the original article here