Lighter Note

Eyes on the prize

Lurching into the world of charity fund raising is always dangerous, especially when competitive corporate types are involved.

Nevertheless, for a good cause The Note is prepared to deal with the consequences of promoting the not-for-profit efforts of various St Georges Terrace inhabitants.

Last week The Note highlighted the fund raising prowess of City to Surf entrant Martin Alciaturi whom, we have since noticed, managed to exceed by his personal target to generate $2,000 for charity.

We also put the spotlight on the contributions of various investment bank types to Mr Alciaturi’s chosen cause. Included among them was Gresham’s Justin Mannolini.

What we failed to add was that Mr Mannolini was himself engaged in a fund raising exercise. Another charitable exercise, that is, not his day job.

His energies were being devoted to the Mont Blanc Project 2010 (see page 27) which has raised around $500,000 for new 3D molecular imaging technology at Princess Margaret Hospital. In an email update, Mr Mannolini said contributors to his cause have helped him commit more than $25,000 to that target.

While he is still fund raising for a few more weeks, the

next big stage is actually climbing Mont Blanc in the

French Alps.

The project team is led by Rick Parish, chairman of safety and emergency training group M&O Global, and includes a bundle of Perth people, including WA Business News 40under40 award winner Damione Wright, of Wrights Hardware, whom we presume will supply gloves for the ascent.

They appear confident of getting a little of coverage on the telly next week, after having a Channel 9 news team filming some of their training.