By MADELINE BLACKSTOCK
Wings 4 Kidz has helped more than 50 rural families cover more than 250,000 kilometers to attend medical appointments in the city.
For one Bogan Gate family, that is priceless.
Young Chloe Thomas has to make the trip to the city to visit the transplant clinic in person four times a year.
“This takes its toll on the family having to make our way back and forth in the car,” Chloe’s mum Kell Thomas said.
Latest Stories
“Every time I get the confirmation back from Wings 4 Kidz that says “your flights are booked” the tears stream down my face.
“The raw emotion that comes from this kind of help was unimaginable until we received it.”
Children requiring specialist treatment for heart conditions, blood disorders, cancer, congenital disorders, burns treatment or the many other conditions which can only be treated at major hospitals, Wings 4 Kidz is there to support them throughout their treatment journey.
We all know for families in rural, remote and regional NSW it can take several hours or days by car to reach major hospitals. This trip is sometimes needed on a weekly basis and it can take several years before the treatment is complete.
This travel is not only stressful for parents, but it’s detrimental for children, both physically and emotionally as well as detrimental to their health, and has a significant impact on the family unit.
“Replacing this with a comfortable one hour flight reduces the financial stress, is safer, less fatiguing, and something kids really look forward to,” Wings 4 Kidz said.
This service wouldn’t be available to regional families if it wasn’t for donations and community fundraising such as the Never Late Fe-Mail Postie Bike Ride.
For the third year this ride will be held in April - and it will travel through Canowindra on Wednesday.
The 2025 event will see more than 90 ladies from around the state travelling over 800km in four days in hopes to raise money for Wings 4 Kidz to help more families like the Thomases in Bogan Gate.
It starts in Bathurst on Wednesday, 9 April with a lap around Mount Panorama, then they will venture down to Young.
At Young the ladies have a fun masquerade night and will hear from local families who use the Wings 4 Kidz service.
The next day the ladies will be on backroads on their way to West Wyalong via Temora.
On the way they will stop at Iandra Castle.
On the second last day of riding they will stay in Forbes before they ride to Bogan Gate and then finish in Parkes around 3pm on Saturday, 12 March.
Organiser Garry Rodgers encourages the whole Parkes community to head down to the main street at this time to welcome the ladies to Parkes where they will ride down the main street finishing at Cooke Park.
Lat year when the ride ended in Mudgee, the main street was packed with people cheering the ladies into town.
There are two groups of ladies from Parkes who will be taking part in this year’s ride including the Parkes Postie Chicks and The Wild Sows.
“Our family alike to many others in a similar situation, we’re terribly humbled to know there’s a local fundraising team right here in Parkes,” Kell said.
The Wild Sows are a group of women from Parkes, Young and Eugowra and they recently supported Chloe where she competed in the Parkes Elvis Festival Busking Competition and were accompanied by her at Trundle Back in Time where the Thomas family were offering rides in their late 1920’s Chev for a small donation to Wings 4 Kidz.
Chloe and her family’s appreciation of all the ladies’ fundraising efforts are one of the many reasons why this ride is so important and makes it all worthwhile for many of the ladies.
“The women who take to the country roads on their bikes are the shining lights in our hearts and we are unbelievably thankful,” Kell said.
Wings 4 Kidz is very proud to be 100 per cent volunteer based which enables every cent that is raised from the Never Late Fe-Mail Postie Bike Ride to be put towards keeping the Wings 4 Kidz plane flying.
Welcome these riders back to town on Saturday, 12 April and support the amazing work of Wings 4 Kidz.
“Wings 4 Kidz has really been a game changer for us, the stress alleviates instantly knowing we can get that help,” Kell added.
