WITH or without her flamboyant hairstyle, Patti Chong still makes an impact.
The general counsel for the Corruption and Crime Commission is well known for her colourful clothes and personality, and so it came as no surprise that after hearing a radio advertisement for the Leukaemia Foundation’s Big Shave, she was determined to raise $5,000.
And if that meant the locks had to go, then so be it.
In the process, Ms Chong became the foundation’s biggest-ever individual fundraiser.
Ms Chong started by calling the parents of kids in her son’s class at school. On that list she came across the name Jenny Goyder-Ewen, the sister of prominent mining identity Tim Goyder.
Himself a leukaemia survivor, Mr Goyder was already involved with the Leukaemia Foundation, and had been the single biggest fundraiser in Western Australia, raising $45,000.
He pledged $5,000 on the phone straight away.
Today, Ms Chong, with Mr Goyder’s help, has more than doubled his efforts, raising $105,000 since February this year.
She has recently filmed an advertisement with the Leukaemia Foundation, which will be screened in January.
“Tim’s name helped open the door to a lot of mining people,” Ms Chong said. “I consider my greatest accomplishment to date, not as a lawyer but as a community person, is my fund raising for the Leukemia Foundation this year.
“I set out to raise $5,000 and ended up with 21 times more than I had hoped. The recognition from the foundation that I am the highest individual fundraiser ever has to be one of the highlights for me as a person.”
In the Leukaemia Foundation’s annual report, Ms Chong ranks fourth among contributors, after Price Waterhouse Coopers, National Australia Bank, and AirRoad, and is the only individual listed in the top 20 contributors.
Mr Goyder said Ms Chong’s commitment was phenomenal for someone who had never had leukaemia.
“I guess that it comes back to the point that you get out of life what you put in – the pleasure of giving is something which has its own rewards,” he said.
