We Beat Last Year’s Total!

6 hours ago
2 min read

As the charity partner of the Cronulla Sharks during their Indigenous Round on the weekend, SSR received 40% of the impressive $8,889 total funds we raised - over $600 more than last year!

At Shark Park, eighteen SSR volunteers sold raffle tickets and raised awareness of the work SSR does in the community.

It started in rain but ended in cool sunshine. Tickets were sold slowly at first, but as the crowds started arriving through the gates, the total increased quickly. Fans were used to donating to charity at NRL matches, so many raffle tickets were sold at the entry gates, the marquee and the corporate areas.

Beer queues were “sitting ducks” for our brightly-dressed intrepid sellers. A captured crowd is a donating one! Fans were very positive about supporting our organisation during the Indigenous Round, and some scanned our QR code to learn more about SSR from our website.

Volunteers were appreciative of the informative and light-hearted briefing and training to confidently sell raffle tickets. One volunteer was certain we would have reached our target total of $10,000 if it weren’t for a world-wide Mastercard glitch and intermittent internet. He is sure all the new volunteer members who participated will take away fond memories and put their hand up to return next year.

Well done Rhonda, Anthony, Hayden, Ashley, Mary, Brian, Mark, Anwen, Jackie, Wilma, Peta, Daniel, Evan, Jan, Sally, Sonja, Mark & Melinda for volunteering the whole afternoon to raise awareness of SSR and significantly get their step-count up for the day! They have enabled SSR to continue to fund community events and other activities to raise awareness about reconciliation.

And thanks to the 50/50 Foundation raffle, a lucky winner also took home $4,444.50. During the Sharks’ 2026 season, only one other match partner has raised a greater cash prize.

For this Indigenous Round against the Canberra Raiders, Sharks players ran onto the field wearing custom painted boots and Indigenous jerseys through a tunnel of Gamay Dancers. We heard a Welcome to Country from Gadigal woman and respected elder, artist and community figure Aunty Deanna Schreiber.

SSR Chair, Sonja Scherer, shared her passion for reconciliation and celebrated our achievements to build relationships and understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people during her half-time interview displayed on the big screen.