31 Oct 2016
HEIDI DOUGLASS | h.douglass@unsw.edu.au
Michael Gibson, year 12 student at The Gap State High School was successful in his bid for CHeBA to be the recipient of the School's free dress donation program. Fellow Student Advisory Committee members Pia Walters, Zac Woodroff-Pierson and Julia Twomey backed Michael in his bid which generated $500 in gold coin donations to The Dementia Momentum® initiative at CHeBA.
At an assembly on Friday, 28th October Michael addressed his school saying "the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing is a brain research centre focused on preventing Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. It is the only centre nationally assessing brain scans of people over 100 years old and Co-Director of CHeBA, Professor Henry Brodaty, was recently awarded what is known as the Nobel prize in research - the Ryman Prize. It is projected that we will need 500 new nursing home beds every month for the next 40 years just for people with dementia unless research finds a way to prevent it or cure it. Your gold coin donations will go straight to the research at CHeBA to help change the future of dementia in Australia."
Spokesman for The Dementia Momentum, Richard Grellman AM, praised the School for their support of dementia research at CHeBA and encouraged other schools to do the same.
"The Gap State High School has taken a lead nationally to help raise awareness about this crippling disease and drive some fundraising efforts to valuable research," said Mr Grellman. "I extend my thanks to the Principal, staff and student committee."
The Gap State High School holds their free dress day once a term, raising money for a variety of charities with CHeBA being the first interstate charity they have supported.
