CEO Dare To Cure 2022 – One Of My Favourite Events Of The Year
16 September 2022
FROM THE TERRIFYING DARES TO THE HEART-WARMING GENEROSITY, THIS EVENT HAS A VERY SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART.
Every event we produce at Flying Ruby has its own kind of magic. Some are distinctive because of their sheer size, others because of their uniqueness, and some are simply intimate and elegant.
And then there’s the Children’s Cancer Institute’s Dare to Cure – a fundraising event that stands out on its own and has a very, very special place in my heart. Today, we produced our fifth CEO Dare to Cure event and to say it was extraordinary would be a complete understatement. CEOs and business leaders from across Australia met in Sydney at six o’clock this morning to face a fear, take on a dare and, at the same time, help fund researchers to one day cure all childhood cancer – the most worthy of all causes.
Globally, 400,000 children are diagnosed with cancer each year, and here in Australia we lose three young lives to cancer every week – more than any other disease. The Children’s Cancer Institute refuses to accept this harrowing statistic. As the only independent medical research institute in Australia wholly dedicated to curing childhood cancer, CCI’s mission is to save the lives of all children living with cancer. As they always say; “It’s not if. It’s when.”
DARING IS CARING
With this in mind, the Flying Ruby team rose before dawn (4am, to be exact) to arrive on site at Sydney’s Fleet Steps overlooking our city’s beautiful harbour. As the sun rose, we set up dares and prepared challenges as we waited in anticipation for 190 CEOs and business leaders, and all their spectators, to descend on the site at 6am.
Our dares this year were perfectly terrifying – just the way we like ‘em at Flying Ruby! There was the Athlete’s Ice Bath Challenge where CEOs were submerged in a tank full of ice-cold water for a full minute which, trust me, feels like a lot longer when you’re actually in it. There was the trusty, but no less scary, Walking On Fire & Glass Challenge, the always popular Brave Shave, the hilarious (for onlookers, not participants) Extreme Virtual Reality Challenge where participants stand on a plank looking down the face of a building 80 stories high, and the Extreme Fitness Challenge (er, I’ll pass). My favourites though would have to be the Snake Bath Challenge, which comprises of two pythons, by the way – one placed around the neck and one around the legs! – and this new year’s newest edition: The Bug’s Breakfast.
What a feast for the eyes, if not the stomach! CEOs took a seat around a long dining table and were served an entrée, a main and a dessert by our special guest and food scientist, Skye Blackburn. The tablescape might have been five-star, but the menu, for some, left a little to be desired. Get this: the entrée was a delightful cinnamon roasted mealworm granola cup with yoghurt and seasonal fruit. Yum! Main was a variety of insect sushi – including grasshopper nigiri, fly pupae and vegetable California roll, and baby avocado and cricket rolls. (I don’t know about you, but the word ‘pupae’ did it for me.) And to finish it off, for dessert we served an ant, lime and white coconut lamington with finger lime and green tree ant jam filling. It came with a side of mealworm brittle, naturally. I mean, what more could you ask for?
EVERY CENT COUNTS
Well, donations actually, and that’s exactly what happened. In 2019, CEO Dare to Cure’s goal was to enlist the help of 50 or 60 CEOs to raise $700,000. Today, there were 190 business leaders who raised $1.465,708 million. To be part of such an incredible event, to feel the comradery, kindness and goodwill emanating from all involved, it made me fall in love with my job all over again. The only thing left to do now is to bump out this event site at Fleet Steps, get ready to rebuild it all again in Melbourne in four weeks, and then start concocting big, better and scarier dares for the following year. Roll on 2023, I say…
YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION ON ALL THE INCREDIBLE WORK THE CHILDREN’S CANCER INSTITUTE DOES HERE.
