Pink power takes to the Clyde

resident to make Australian fundraising history.

Straight Up Kayaks owner Jill Dewey, who once managed a medical practice, said the sight of young girls suffering from the potentially fatal disease was “devastating”. And to show her

support she has gathered the largest number

of female kayakers and canoeists in the nation’s history for a pink-powered fundraiser.

This Sunday more than 100 Eurobodalla women will take to the Clyde River for the inaugural Girls Day Out as an outdoor spin-off off the Cancer Council’s Girls Night In.

The fun starts at Nelligen, and from there the girls will head downstream to Batemans Bay, stopping half way at a property near Big Island for a picnic.

Mrs Dewey said Batemans Bay businesses had pooled donations for a post-paddle auction, and there would also be plenty of give-aways for participants.

The fundraiser is not the first that Mrs Dewey has run, having organised two picnics within the last few years, however it promises to be the most successful.

“The Bay Post put in a small article about [The Girls Day Out] three months ago and the response was overwhelming,” she said. “Our aim was to raise $5000 but I expect to double that.

“We will definitely run it [again] next year.”

Mrs Dewey is still welcoming any last minute participants in the event, although she said they would need to have their own kayak, canoe, or water ski.

There will also be two surf boats full of women on the day, and support vessels which will carry a handful of ladies currently in remission.

Mrs Dewey has attributed the enthusiastic response to the fundraiser to the shire-wide awareness of the disease.

“Everyone has a friend or family member [they know] with breast cancer,” she said.

For more information on the Girls Day Out, or to participant or donate goods for the auction, call Mrs Dewey on 0418 970 751 or visit www.

paddlefit.net.au.

Registration for the paddle will take place at 9am at Nelligen and the paddling will start at 10am.