Community
13 February, 2026
Car club helps launch appeal
A GENEROUS donation from a local historical car club has helped kick start a new community appeal for South West Healthcare.
The Warrnambool hospital this week launched its public appeal to raise $120,000 to buy a highly specialised breast tumour locator system.
“This new system would help our surgeons and radiologists precisely identify the location of impalpable breast lesions,” community partnerships manager at South West Healthcare, Suzan Morey, said.
“Impalpable lesions cannot be felt by touch so this is an essential piece of equipment for our team.
“The precision of these locator systems results in less invasive surgery for cancer patients facing a mastectomy or lumpectomy.”
Ms Morey met with members of the Warrnambool and District Historical Vehicle Club earlier this week and a cheque for $2,500 was presented towards the fundraising tally.
“This is an extremely generous donation from the car club and one that is greatly appreciated,” Ms Morey said.
President of the historical vehicle club, Natalie Serra, said the donation was proceeds from the club’s show, held at Lake Pertobe, earlier this year.
“We asked people who came to the Lake Pertobe show for a gold coin donation and many gave more than that,” Natalie said.
“People are very generous when they know where the money is going; they were very happy to donate towards this important piece of equipment.
“We currently have around 370 members and they come from as far afield as Melbourne, Ballarat, Geelong, Hamilton and then from around Warrnambool and surrounding areas.
“Some of our members have been with the club for 30 or 40 years and we even have three or four who were founding members back in 1973.”
Natalie encourages anyone considering donating towards this appeal to do so if possible.
If your business, auxiliary, club, school, church, family, workplace or group is looking for a worthy cause to support at the start of 2026, this appeal may be the perfect fit.
Ms Morey can be contacted at South West Healthcare, Warrnambool.
