After a two year break, the Australian Women and Children’s Research Foundation (OZWAC) has announced the return of its charity ball in celebration of the foundation’s 20th anniversary.
Created by the late Professor Brian Spurrett and Dr Chris Kohlenberg in 1998, the foundation has since supported research on women and children within Nepean and Westmead hospitals.
OZWAC Chairperson Bruce Williams said that it’s been a tough but rewarding journey for all of those involved with the local foundation.
“It’s been an up and down 20 years, but most of it has been good and I think it’s good that we are really just trying to keep their legacy alive,” he said.
While OZWAC has helped to instigate ground breaking research, their biggest breakthrough, Mr Williams believed, was the use of oral probiotics in premature babies.
“Premature babies suffer greatly from gut disease because their gut isn’t developed, so we founded a research project to use oral probiotics in premi babies and the results of that were so good, it went worldwide and every hospital in the western world uses that now,” Mr Williams said.
“People just don’t understand what comes out of Penrith hospital.”
To celebrate the successful 20 years, the OZWAC Board will be hosting the black tie ball, to be held on May 12 at the Evan Theatre at Panthers.
Deputy Chairperson Diane Williams said that they were grateful for the generosity already shown by the community.
“Panthers have been fabulous and they’ve given us the Evan Theatre for the evening and so now we’re just looking for other sponsors to help with the other entertainment and everything else,” she said.
Prior to the two year break, the OZWAC ball had become one of Penrith’s night of nights, attracting hundreds of people and raising important funds.
Recently, Penrith City Council honoured OZWAC with its Community Award.
Individual tickets for the night are $130, with corporate sponsorship available for $1,040 per table, and will be available for purchase from March 1 through OZWAC’s website.
For further information on the event, contact OZWAC at [email protected].
Lauren Suttie
Lauren Suttie is the Weekender's General & Community News journalist.