Rodney Stevens

Staff at Coles Yamba have put in a stellar effort this year in the Big Freeze for MND collecting the most cash donations from customers, cake stalls, and competitions of any Coles store in Australia.

Last Thursday staff celebrated this impressive achievement when the store Manager, Jack Gibb took part in an ice bucket challenge to acknowledge his store’s fantastic fundraising efforts for Motor Neurone Disease MND.

More than 30 staff and locals gathered at the rear of the Treelands Drive store to watch Mr Gibb get covered in ice.

Coles Yamba Store Support Manager, Lauren Taylor told the CV Independent staff members Sam Logan and Aleisha Rickert got the privilege of pouring the ice over their manager as they ran the cake stalls and competitions to help raise $7081 for MND research.

“We were the top Coles store in Australia for cash donations which is extremely impressive for such a small community,” she said.

Ms Taylor said staff including Sam, Aleisha, Sonja Bennett, Christine Peach, Michelle Lavender and Aimee Harriman took charge of the fundraising efforts, holding cake stalls, raffles, and guessing competitions.

In addition to the $7081 raised through cake stalls, competitions, and raffles, Ms Taylor said the team at Coles Yamba sold out of MND merchandise including beanies and socks to bring their total to $8600 for MND.

“We would really like to thank the Lower Clarence community for their generous donations and bringing in cakes and slices for us to sell on our stalls,” she said.

“For a Coles store our size to raise this amount of money against the bigger city stores is amazing, so thank you to everyone who contributed.”

For more information on Motor Neurone Disease fundraising or to donate visit https://fightmnd.org.au/

Caption: Coles Yamba staff members Sam Logan and Aleisha Rickert cover store Manager, Jack Gibb in ice to celebrate raising the most of any Coles store in Australia in cash donations for Motor Neurone Disease research. Image: Rodney Stevens

Caption: Coles Yamba staff Sonja Bennett, Christine Peach, Aleisha Rickert, Michelle Lavender, Sam Logan, Store Manager Jack Gibb, and staff member Aimee Harriman. Image: Rodney Stevens