9.00am Tuesday 21 December 2021

Sport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe alongside football greats Wally Lewis and Allan Langer today presented a cheque to Hear and Say for $60,000 as proceeds of the Suncorp Stadium Annual Charity Golf Day.

The Stadium’s Annual Charity Golf Day event, has been running for 11 years and in that time has raised almost $500,000 for Hear and Say.

Mr Hinchliffe said Suncorp Stadium was a world-class sporting arena and fundraiser.

“Not only has Suncorp Stadium excelled as a venue for significant events including the State of Origin, NRL Grand Final, International Test matches and concerts, the Stadium also puts in a world-class community fundraising effort,” Mr Hinchliffe said.

“To raise nearly half a million dollars for Hear and Say, while running Australia’s best rectangular stadium, is a terrific achievement in anybody’s book.

“A commitment to helping children with hearing difficulties lead full and rewarding lives makes Hear and Say an incredibly deserving recipient of the Stadium’s Annual Charity Golf Day fundraising effort.”

Apart from the Annual Golf Day, the Stadium which is managed on behalf of Stadiums Queensland by ASM Global is very active in supporting charities and community groups.

Each year the Stadium provides prizes for local auctions and raffles which help raise over $150,000 for community groups.

On Christmas Day, the Stadium opens its doors to provide a gourmet Christmas lunch for 200 homeless and disadvantaged with the help of Communify and the O’Brien Group Australia.

Another regular community initiative is the annual support provided to 42 for 42 which assists Afghanistan veterans and their families.

Suncorp Stadium General Manager Alan Graham said the success of the Golf Day would not be possible without the generous support of all sponsors some of whom have been involved for 11 years.

“I can’t thank them enough for their generosity and community spirit,” he said.

Football great and King of Suncorp Stadium Wally Lewis has been involved in the Golf Day since its inception and also has a personal connection to Hear and Say.

“Hear and Say is a fantastic organisation and it’s my pleasure to support them through the Suncorp Stadium Charity Golf Day,” he said.

“It’s an amazing day each year and the money raised goes to an incredibly worthy cause.”

Hear and Say was founded and officially opened in Brisbane in 1992 and has been teaching children who are deaf to hear, listen and speak ever since.

The Brisbane based charity is now seen as one of the leading Auditory-Verbal and cochlear implant centres in the world.

Dr Dimity Dornan AO, Executive Director and Founder at Hear and Say said the money is going to a very worthy cause – “Over 300 babies are born deaf or hard of hearing in Australia every year, but these children, can grow up to listen, speak and reach their full learning potential just like their siblings and friends.
“Fundraising efforts like the Stadium’s Annual Charity Golf Day allow us to invest in State-of-the art hearing technology and audiology support, Specialised speech therapy & Group programs to foster resilience and wellbeing which help children with hearing loss who have specialist intervention before 12 months of age develop age appropriate speech and language skills by the time they are three years old.” Dr Dornan said.
 
“For every dollar invested in these specialist services, on average children get $2.20 return value that helps them have a future the same as children without hearing loss so as you can see, that means the donation from Suncorp Stadium is worth a lot more to us than $60,000!”

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