July 19 is a tough day for the Smith family, but they push through the pain to raise funds for mental health charity Beyond Blue.
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On Friday, the late Maddie Smith would have celebrated her 25th birthday and on this day every year, her mother Vicki, father Barry and youngest sister Gabby set up in the Woolworths car park to fundraise in her memory. Maddie lost her battle with depression in 2016.
"It's tough [but] it's for such a good cause," Mr Smith said.
"People are talking but we need them to know help is there and be aware of what's going on around us."
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The Smiths are still busy collecting and counting funds, but already the figure is just shy of $8000.
Mrs Smith works for Woolworths and the local store has showed its support by allowing the family to host Maddie's Big beyondblue Bash in the car park for four consecutive years.
The Smiths also sit outside the store in the lead-up to the event, selling tickets for raffles and 100 club. This year they filled 18 raffle books and raised $5000.
On the day of the event, Barry Smith's cousin Jacki McNamara from the ACT got involved, taking charge of the money box, and Woolworths staff including Cindy Whitfield and Patrina Marshall helped out by cooking snags, buttering bread and selling baked goods over a six-hour period.
Chanelle Callaghan vacated the checkouts to pitch in, showing off a blue tutu and a year's growth of hair after lopping it off at last year's event to boost funds. Almost $9000 was raised last year.
Numerous businesses showed their support by donating raffle prizes, placing donation boxes on their counters and donating proceeds from food and drinks. Sonya Jones brought down her coffee van and Woolworths donated all of the milk for the morning.
Mrs Smith said more than $3000 was raised in the car park on Friday, with more funds coming in from other businesses including Jack and Jill's Cafe, which had a Muffin for Maddie morning.
The family said they were thankful to everyone who had contributed to the fundraising effort and though it is a lot of hard work, they said it was well worth it.
To donate to the Smith's Beyond Blue campaign, visit beyondblueinmemoriam.everydayhero.com/au/never-again-in-honour-in-maddie-smith
- Lifeline 13 11 14
- beyondblue 1300 22 4636