During the year 2000 several Dads met while dropping off their children at a local West Pymble school. It was found they had common ground and they banded together to play a social game of touch football every Sunday at one of the ovals in Bicentennial Park. Even though those children have now left school, the game goes on. It has expanded, some of the originals still play but others from the loca
l community also boost the weekly numbers. On May 12, one of the original players, Dr. Rick Hope, took his own life. Diagnosed just one month earlier with bipolar disorder, his death shocked and grieved many of the local community. The social touch footy players decided something should be done to not only raise money for mental disorder research but also raise awareness of the insidiousness of this disease. The Hope Challenge is the result. It plans to do four things:
1. Pay respect to our friend Rick Hope.
2. Provide a fun picnic day for the local community.
3. Raise money for the Black Dog Institute for research into mental disorders.
4. Provide an opportunity for others that may suffer, to realise that the disease does not define them and they are still and always will be a welcome and needed family member, friend and member of their local community. Always strive for Hope, that is the Challenge.
