'Overwhelming' success of charity ball Anything for a Mate leads to massive donation to breast cancer research

Toni Smith's best mates, who all met as teenagers, had the idea to run an event in the hopes of raising $10,000 but smashed their goal thanks to the generosity of Ballarat businesses.

The three men originally offered to raise funds for Ms Smith, her husband Lincoln and their three boys Clancy, Rafferty and Sullivan but while Ms Smith loved the idea of a charity ball, catching up with mates and having a good time, she made them promise the funds would go toward cancer research to help her, and others in her situation, live longer.

So the Anything for a Mate ball was born - and the 180 ticket sold-out event at the Ballaarat Mechanics Institute on July 23 exceeded all their expectations.

"They had never done anything like that before. They knew they wanted to do something to help and they managed to pull together this incredible event. They are my best mates from my teenage years who got it in their head and pulled their networks together, and their wives, to produce this fantastic event," Ms Smith said.

It also allowed friendships to be rekindled, new friendships made and the Ballarat community to throw their support behind the cause.

"The intention was we need to find opportunities to catch up with friends whenever we can, not just wait for big events like 40th or 50th birthdays or funerals before we start catching up with the people we love.

"It was incredible we had that many people turn up not just to support me but to support the idea in general. I managed to make contact and renew contact with a few friends I haven't seen for a long time and I've caught up with some of them since the event.

"That was the real intention of the guys when they thought it up ... and it's really nice to see their intention start to play out."

Ms Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 after she felt a lump in her left breast. After having a mastectomy and full lymph node clearance in April 2019, she spent the rest of the year undergoing a mix of chemotherapy and radiation therapy however in late 2020 she started suffering severe back pain which led to scans that revealed not only had the cancer returned, but it had spread in to her spine and a few spots in her liver.

Generous Ballarat businesses donated silent auction items, raffle prizes and many other elements needed for Anything for a Mate.

Ballarat chef Tim Bone supplied the food for the ball, and when he went to pick up thousands of dollars worth of food from a supplier they charged him just a fraction of the price.

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"When the guys started organising Anything for a Mate they intially set a goal to raise $10,000, to have that amount to donate, but because the businesses we dealt with were so generous it meant there was more money to donate back to the Breast Cancer Foundation," Ms Smith said.

Ms Smith said it took her a few days to recover from the event, but it was a fantastic night enjoyed by everyone who attended.

"From the minute people walk in it was a brilliant feeling in the room and there were lots of people who had not seen each other for a long time ... groups of friends, people I worked with when I was a teen, friends from uni and high school, but not just my friends, friends of the guys organising it and the general public.

"There was lots of dancing, but not by me because that's not in my realm at the moment."

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