National Transport Insurance (NTI) has raised a whopping $555,850 for research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND) through its latest truck raffle.
Raising money for MND research is something that NTI is very passionate about, having lost its former CEO, Wayne Patterson, to the disease in 2018.
This year’s Expedition Truck was the fifth to be raffled by the company, breaking its truck raffle fundraising record – and bringing the total raised through the initiative to over $1.5 million over four years.
Thousands of tickets sold across Australia, with Ian Fuller from the Blue Mountains named as the lucky winner.
“We are blown away so many people took part in this year’s raffle, helping to raise funds for life-saving research,” said NTI CEO Tony Clark.
The winner was announced at the recent NTI Supercars round in, and Ian Fuller has now been handed the keys to the Expedition vehicle, which includes a truck and a luxury motorhome.
According to Fuller, the timing was perfect, “We’ve been planning a trip up to Cape York for four years but because of Covid we never got there,” he said.
“We’ve had a departure date locked in for six months – so going from a little pop-up camper trailer to this Expedition Vehicle is such an amazing gift.
“We sold our caravan last year and my wife saw the Expedition vehicle and said ‘oh that’s fantastic, it’s got extra seating for the grandkids’. The grandkids live 300 kilometres away, on the NSW mid-north coast and we have them every school holidays and at least one weekend a month, so it’s quite a trip to get them each time, and this truck will be great for that.”
Clark explained that while the previous four trucks had been restorations, this year was different.
“In the past, we’ve raffled restored vehicles but this year we wanted to promote a sense of adventure and celebrate borders being open again with the Expedition Truck, and we’re thrilled Ian will be putting this vehicle to the test on his great adventure up North.”