{"id":3945,"date":"2023-04-06T12:58:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T02:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/?p=3945"},"modified":"2023-04-06T12:58:11","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T02:58:11","slug":"one-bunny-and-a-swag-of-volunteers-spread-joy-in-the-lead-up-to-easter-on-the-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/one-bunny-and-a-swag-of-volunteers-spread-joy-in-the-lead-up-to-easter-on-the-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"One bunny and a swag of volunteers spread joy in the lead up to Easter on the Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 200 locals were treated to a spectacle yesterday as an adult sized Easter Bunny and its team of volunteers treated them to some special gifts in the spirit of Easter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In what is a long-standing Mounties Group annual Easter tradition, this initiative spread joy to vulnerable children and the elderly with the Mounties Bunny Run this year visiting four locations across the Central Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual staff tradition has been held now for 32 years and sees club Directors and staff visit local disability organisations, hospices, schools and aged care facilities with the Easter Bunny and exciting themed treats and gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year on Wednesday 5 April, the Bunny Run visited four local organisations including Alino Living aged care facilities, Lake Haven Court, Killarney Court, Vietnam Veterans Keith Payne VC Hostel and Adelene Village as well as the Gosford Hospital Ronald McDonald Family Room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As newer clubs to the Mounties Group family, this was the second year that the Mounties teams from Club Wyong, Halekulani Bowling Club and Breakers Country Club took part in this wonderful giving back initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe Mounties Bunny Run has to be one of the best days on our calendar as it brings so much joy to us as volunteers and those who we visit,\u201d explained Kain Barnett, Marketing Executive for Mounties Group\u2019s Central Coast venues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe young and young at heart are always so excited to see the Easter Bunny and even the older aged care residents are beaming with smiles to see our special visitors,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mounties Bunny Run was an initiative created by a staff member back in 1991 with the goal to give back to those less abled in our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMounties staff member Maria Pullen came up with the idea more than three decades ago after noticing kids and adults within Mounties venue that had special needs and disabilities. After striking up a conversation, Maria went out of her way to find ways to help these people in our community and give back to local hospitals, schools and special needs organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFundraising via bar collections and staff activities, Maria drove her very own car for the first Bunny Run to distribute gifts to Liverpool Hospital, Ronald McDonald House and Westmead Hospital,\u201d explained Mounties Group CEO Dale Hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the Mounties Bunny Run has successfully expanded across three regions and this year our representatives gave out more than 300 gifts and treats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur teams greet and hand out gifts to the children during the Bunny Run and either provide Easter eggs or plush toy Easter bunnies to those within each location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always such a highlight and thrill to be involved in these Bunny Runs and this year once again, it was nice to add some face to face positivity to these locals who like many, have had a very tough few years,\u201d concluded Dale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 200 locals were treated to a spectacle yesterday as an adult sized Easter Bunny and its team of volunteers treated them to some special gifts in the spirit…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41,71],"tags":[],"series":[115],"class_list":["post-3945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-events","category-seniors-on-the-coast","series-coffee-with-a-coastie"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/MountiesBunnyRun-Killarney-002.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/onthecoastpublications.com.au\/onthecoastover55\/feed\/podcast\/coffee-with-a-coastie","embedCode":"

One bunny and a swag of volunteers spread joy in the lead up to Easter on the Coast<\/a><\/blockquote>