$30,000 for cancer research and counting

A recent Koonwarra charity dinner has helped Team Santa reach its $30,000 fundraising goal for this year’s Spring Shitbox Rally.

Rod Cope is one part of Team Santa and will be participating in the rally for the first time while driving a $1500 Santa and Christmas-inspired Commodore with his wife, Lyndell, from Adelaide to Darwin to raise money for cancer research.

The cause is one close to Rod’s heart, as he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2018 at the age of 51.

“I went through prostate cancer in 2018, and everything’s good now,” Rod said.

“I just want to give something back.”

Rod said one of his main goals is to encourage more men to get checked for prostate cancer, especially considering he had no symptoms before his own diagnosis.

“I was advised by somebody that I should get checked, so I did, and luckily I did,” he said.

“That’s how they found it.”

Rod underwent surgery and has had no complications since.

“I’m one of the lucky ones,” he said.

“If I can just raise awareness for men to get checked, that’s all I want to do, and raise a bit of money for research along the way.”

Team Santa recently held a major charity dinner at Koonwarra Hall, and Rod said the response was overwhelming.

“We were blown away, to be honest, with the support that we got,” he said.

When they first began planning the event in January, the hope was to attract roughly 100 people. Instead, about 140 guests attended.

The Melbourne-based band Remote Collaborators, featuring Rod’s sister-in-law Tamara Brezzi, also donated their time for the night.

The dinner raised $13,000, adding to $17,000 already raised through Team Santa’s Shitbox Rally donation page.

Rod said the unique Santa and Christmas-related came about after taking part in various Christmas-related charity efforts, with the money previously donated to the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

The connection to Peter Mac doesn’t stop there either, as Rod’s daughter Olivia is an anaesthetic nurse at the cancer centre and now works with the surgeon who originally operated on him.

Team Santa will leave Adelaide on August 15 as part of the Spring Rally, which will see Rod and Lyndell travel to Darwin via back roads across six nights.

About 225 cars are expected to take part in the event, which raises funds for cancer research through Cancer Council.

Box Rallies has raised more than $66 million since 2010, with more than $1.6 million already raised for the upcoming Spring Rally alone.

If you would like to donate, please click here or email Team Santa at teamsanta2026@gmail.com.

Team Santa would like to acknowledge their sponsors:

·       Southern Stockfeeds

·       Sentinel-Times

·       Kate Lafferty Photography

·       SportsPower Leongatha

·       Bodyscope Health Clinic

·       Willsigns Leongatha

·       Gippsland Veterinary Group

·       Evans Petroleum

Team Santa would also like to give a very special thank you to the Leongatha Rotary Club for donating $2000 at their fundraising event.