By KATRINA BRANDON
VAROOM!
Here goes another car meet fundraiser by Dasma Group, which puts on meets so car lovers and others can get together to raise money for community associations and other causes.
On April 5, Dasma Group joined hundreds of other car enthusiasts to raise money for the Moe Youth Boxing Club. People turned up in the car park of Traralgon’s Amart store in new, old, fancy, and classic cars, bringing friends, families, and their children to celebrate a night out.
“I like the car meets where everyone gets here, and you have every different make and model. It’s not all Fords or Holdens, but you see every model known to man here. You meet some characters. It’s really good,” enthusiast Stephen Anderson said.
“I just think it is looking at every make and model of each car, listening to their stories. A lot of cars have been handed down from their dads, and they have handed them down to their sons, and it’s fantastic. Then you have got your new Mustangs, which are also beautiful, and Camaros. They are all great. You see all of the kids around here; they are biking here with their bikes. There’s everything here.”
Mr Anderson has been bringing his own cars to the meets for up to 20 years. He is a Latrobe Valley local who travels all around for classic meet-ups.
The evening was filled with a variety of activities. Attendees had the opportunity to admire the cars, engage in conversations, listen to the fascinating backstories of the vehicles, enjoy a sausage, and participate in a raffle. The raffle tickets were cleverly distributed with the sausages throughout the night. By the end of the event, the group had raised $4200 for the Moe Youth Boxing Club.
The Moe Boxing Club started in the community of Gippsland Sports Gym in 1986 but moved to the old football club in Moe in 1992. Francis Jenkins began to join the group, which Paul Jenkins now leads. Mr Jenkins told the Express he was very thankful to the Dasma Group organiser, Eden Di Sipio, for raising money for the group.
“Eden has been very good to us, and he said he would paint inside and outside. It hasn’t been painted for many years, and we do want to upgrade down the track, put a new shower in, a hot water service, and solar hot water training in the future. We do have one now, but it takes a while to get up and running,” he said.
“Pretty happy. It’s fantastic that they do events, and the money goes to community groups.”
For 40 years, Mr Jenkins has been involved in the boxing community, including boxing and coaching. Now, with up to 20 kids boxing per night, Mr Jenkins is sticking to teaching the new Moe talents and sending them off into interstate and interclub matches.
“We have three boys fighting casually and two more juniors who aren’t far away. We are trying to bring them up,” he said.
“We have had a few people that come in and train for a couple of years and never go into a fight, and they get a lot of confidence out of it. It’s one of the toughest sports physically wise. The standard is really high. You have to be very dedicated.
“We have a good bunch of kids here now. There will be a lot of fun in the future.”
