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This week the award-winning Airlie Beach Festival of Music announced that proceeds of any fundraising during the popular four-day event will go straight to vital local charity RACQ CQ Rescue.
Every year the Airlie Beach Festival of Music choose a charity to donate to, last year was the Tiny Homes Project and this year it will be our local rescue chopper.
Festival Founder Gavin (Butto) Butlin said, “If you're going to support a charity, it's got to be the CQ Rescue - everyone knows someone who has needed the rescue helicopter, they do such a great job in the region.”
RACQ CQ Rescue spokesperson, Tegan Philpott, said they are ecstatic to hear that the Airlie Beach Festival of Music is donating to the charity this year.
She said that the combination of donations will all help fund future rescue missions for this invaluable local service.
It costs RACQ CQ Rescue $11,500 an hour to fly and they perform rescues regularly to the Whitsundays.
Tegan shared that in the first quarter of this year 35 per cent of their rescues had been to the Whitsundays.
“The likes of Bowen saw us in the skies 19 times, we went to Proserpine 27 times, we were also involved in a search and rescue at Woodwark for those young children who were missing for some time,” said Tegan.
“We’ve also been to the Islands nine times, and out to Collinsville 16 times.”
Funds are raised during the Airlie Beach Festival of Music weekend through charitable initiatives such as the selling of raffle tickets, and also the highlight giveaway – a guitar signed by the festival’s headlining act.
Butto said the signed guitar sold for $6000 last year and with this year’s main act being the UK band ‘Sweet’, he expects a lot of interest.
Organisers of the Airlie Beach Festival of Music with a representative of RACQ CQ Rescue. Photo credit: Daniel Heggie
