Storm old boy laces up the running shoes for charity
Melbourne Storm old boy #75 Dennis Scott is taking part in the Running for Premature Babies Challenge this month, raising much needed funds for premature babies and their families around Australia.
Boasting a 128-game career in the NRL that spanned across 10 seasons, Scott recorded 19 games for the Melbourne Storm before retiring at the end of 2005 season.
Scott has since gone on to run his own successful landscaping business as well as taking on the role as presenter on hit show Selling Houses Australia.
It was his role on the show that prompted the former forward to trade his footy boots for the running shoes, all to raise much needed funds for an important cause.
The Running for Premature Babies Challenge was founded by Sophie Smith back in 2007 after she tragically lost her first-born triplets Henry, Jasper and Evan following an extremely premature birth at 24 weeks.
The registered charity has already raised over five million dollars and directly helped over 8000 babies.
Scott said he was embracing the challenge of hitting his target of running 100km throughout the month of November, all to raise awareness and funds that can directly benefit the families affected by premature births.
“This registered charity raises much needed funds that go towards neonatal wards in hospitals to buy lifesaving equipment that is vital for the survival of these babies and little miracles to get home to their mum and dad much earlier and healthier,” Scott said.
“The Running for Premature Babies Challenge is a fantastic cause and this year I've chosen to run but may even have to do a couple of walks because the body is not quite letting me do what I actually want to do,” he said.
“My co-host Wendy Moore had premature twins, so when she mentioned the cause to me as we were doing an episode, I thought that it was a fantastic way to raise awareness and much needed funds that can go into these neonatal areas.”
‘Team Wendy’ has raised $2,546 so far as they look to reach their goal of hitting $3,000 before the end of the month, with each donation, no matter how big or small, making a difference.
“It’s a great atmosphere knowing that you are working with people that are all doing the challenge for the right reason, so running with my Selling Houses Australia team has been great and it’s probably brought back some of the team essence that I was missing from playing football,” Scott said.
The former Melbourne Storm player said that while hitting his target of 100km was certainly a challenge both physically and mentally, the importance of the cause is something that helps him push through.
“I did the challenge last year and it seemed to be a lot easier but I think that was largely due to it being during COVID, whereas at the moment, I'm working full days in my landscaping business and trying to get my runs in around that,” Scott said.
“Even when the motivation in the afternoon is a little bit low, you've just got to look a little bit closer and see how these parents and people are affected through what happens with premature babies and it's enough to sort of kick you in the backside and keep you going.”
You can donate to Dennis’s cause by clicking on the link below.
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