Despite a late start to the cherry season, local growers have raised a record breaking $140,000 for Perth Childrens Hospital at the 30th annual Charity Cherry Auction, with the help of a famous name.
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The cream of the crop was the traditional 5kg box of cherries from the Sweet Cherry Valley orchid in Donnybrook. The Cusato family have donated the fruits for 17 years, led by family patriarch Michel. After he was killed in a farm accident in April, his wife Rosetta picked up the baton and continued the tradition.
The box itself has just as much local significance. for the past 9 years it has been handmade by Dick Gill, a member of the Donnybrook Men's Shed. He too passed away earlier this year, leaving fellow member Phil Stanford to take up the task, fashioning a beautiful box, adorned with a plaque donated by Trophies West in Bunbury, as they have done every year.
The famous box has been known to fetch tens of thousands of dollars, and this year was no different.
The winning bid was $49,000, put up by Spudshed CEO Frankie Galati through a powerhouse joint bid between Galati Group and Fred Fairthorne of Fernbrook Fresh.
It wasn't without the blessing of the big man, Tony Galati, whose family has donated $293,000 to Perth Children's Hospital Foundation through the Cherry Auction since 2009.
"The Cherry Auction has been going strong for 30 years now, and it's once again been amazing to see everyone from the market community come together and dig deep to support WA kids," Tony Galati said.
"We're also going to start to ramp up production and start growing more of our own cherries here in WA, to boost our local industry and reduce reliance on importing cherries from South Australia."
The huge bid made Frankie Galati this year's Cherry King, an honour which has gone to the family four times now.
21kg of cherries were donated by south west growers, despite cold weather making for a slow start to the season. Farmers are now in a mad rush to pick their cherries as they ripen, just in time for Christmas.
The proceeds from this year's record breaking auction will go to the Perth Children's Hospital's Rare Care Centre, which coordinates research and advanced diagnostic methods for the 63,000 WA kids with rare and undiagnosed diseases.
"Additional funds for the Rare Care Centre will support more accurate diagnosis, improved care coordination and better access to community resources, clinical trials, and research for WA kids with rare and undiagnosed diseases and their families," Perth Children's Hospital Foundation CEO Carrick Robinson said.