Fundraiser Profiles
Marita Schembri
Occupation: Designer – Fashion/Graphics
Status: Team Captain of BICI AMICI
Awards received in 2011: Top 100 Fundraiser / Winner of fundraising prize draw / 2011 ‘Best Uniformed team – BICI AMICI
Individual fundraising total for 2011: $1690
Team fundraising total for 2011: $6990
Why do you support MS Australia?
MS has been a charity I have supported throughout my life. It started with the MS read-a-thon’s at school, where we would collect money and read books.
How did you go about reaching your fundraising goal?
I made a huge effort in 2011, firstly to let people know that I was healthy and getting back on track after almost suffering a year with pneumonia. The momentum started to gather and I used my facebook, work contacts & family to rally the support behind the ride and of course request for donations.
How easy and rewarding did you find fundraising?
The fundraising started to gain momentum on its own – so in that sense a few facebook updates always kept the ball rolling. I found it both rewarding and surprising! To raise so much money is a real confidence boost and showed me that people really did care about others, not just me, but those suffering with MS.
Do you have any tips for fundraisers?
Keep it fun, keep it open and remind people all the time!
How did you go about organizing a team?
At first, the team formed because we were just a group of friends getting together for a ride on Sundays, for our health, our fitness, and of course the coffee and breakfast afterwards! So that was the start of the team. People then started to notice that every Sunday we all got together for a ride. From people noticing, people started to then get involved and hence our team formed. We all know each other and hence why we are called “bike friends.”
How did you go on the day?
The day was a little overwhelming. An early start, my family were all there to support me. There were so many other riders! The adrenaline and the anxiety were really pumping as we line dup at the start line. I couldn’t even start to think about all the things that could go wrong and then ‘bang” we were off. That’s when it changed. The ride was great. It was smooth. Climbing the Westgate was exhilarating. And being one of the first few team members back (in what I thought was record time) was huge!
Will you be back bigger and better in 2012?
Bigger, better and with a great team! All ready to ride for MS!