Kate Liston-Mills and her husband Sam Mills took on the challenge of raising funds for the Social Justice Advocates' housing campaign during January, and have successfully raised $20,000.
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When they started the fundraiser at the beginning of January, they were hoping to raise around $2000, but once donations started pouring in, Ms Liston-Mills hoped they might be able to surpass $10,000 by the end of January.
Their expectations were far exceeded over the last two weeks when the tally skyrocketed, thanks to the generosity of the community.
On Friday February 4, the numbers clicked past $20,000 when the couple helped host a fundraiser event for SJA at the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club.
Golf course superintendent Pat Wilson said the idea for the fundraiser came about after he saw the good work the Liston-Mills family and wanted to offer the club's new bar, The 28, to get everyone together and raise some more funds.
There were novelty golf games and prizes up for grabs that had been donated by businesses: MorMors in Merimbula, Wheelers Restaurant, the Pambula Merimbula Golf Club Pro Shop, and offerings from the bar on the night.
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The kids were also able to have a hit on the practice green with some fun games of putt putt and supervised golf activities with equipment supplied by the club.
Music was performed by Sam Mills and his band and some other local talent who decided to get up and play some music for the crowd. The stage and the sound system was generously set up by the Rotary club of Pambula.
Over $1500 was raised on the night thanks to the golfing games run by Mr Wilson and generous donations made into a wishing well on the night.
Ms Liston-Mills said she thought everyone had a really great time and the feedback about the event was really positive.
"The general feedback was that everyone wants to do events like that quite a lot more because it's just outside and it's quote a big space and you can spread out and everyone wins. It's a really great model."
"Everyone from the golf club was really amazing, some of the board members even donated their time to work at the bar," she said.
She also said the space at the club was fantastic as it was outdoors and allowed everyone to get together again after the past couple of years of COVID disruptions and event cancellations.
"It was really good in raising awareness about the housing issue and just getting people chatting about it and also chatting about possible solutions.
"People were able to meet the President of SJA Michael Brosnan and chat about what they could do to help," said Ms Liston-Mills.
