EAST Sunbury star Kamen Ogilvie is taking to the road on Saturday to raise money and help out his mother.
Ogilvie’s mother Shelley lost everything in a house fire in Moama on Easter Sunday and has been left to start from scratch.
The 2018 Strathmore Community Bank Division 2 Best & Fairest winner and a group of mates, including some of his Thunder teammates, will ride from Ballarat to Romsey to raise some funds for Shelley.
Ogilvie said it was the idea of his teammates to do something to try and raise money to support his mother.
“A few of my mates heard about my mum’s house burning down on Easter Sunday,” Ogilvie told essendondfl.com.au.
“One of her cousins started a GoFundMe page and a lot of my mates got behind that and gave what they could.
“A few of my mates from the footy club said how about we do something else as well and try and get the most amount of money we can for someone who is struggling.
“They came up with the idea of riding from Ballarat to Romsey.
“A lot of the boys have got behind me and got behind my family and it’s pretty phenomenal.”
Ogilvie, who will do the whole distance while others only part of the ride, admits he hasn’t trained for the ride.
He was given permission to head to New South Wales to visit his mum’s house and he said you can’t prepare for seeing something like that.
His brother and nephew were in the house and lucky to survive along with three dogs.
Shelley has since moved down to Victoria to the family home in Wandong.
Adding to the situation, that house flooded.
“It's a really weird situation,” Ogilvie said.
“This is just to get her on the right track and to get her back on her feet and replace some of the stuff that she lost.
“We are basically trying to help my mum as much as we can.”
Ogilvie is looking to raise $10,000 while the other GoFundMe page has already raised $8,000.
The star midfielder said the support that he and his family had been given despite the current tough climate was something they had really appreciated.
“It does mean a lot,” he said.
“Seeing the people I know who have done everything and anything they can, has restored my faith in humans.”
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