A52 Past District Chairman, Pat Matthews "strikes a cord" with students at Gosford Railway Station

The first three years of fundraising raised a total of $578 000 - far beyond any expectations. The project had generated such enthusiastic support from the members that the Governing Body saw fit to give their support to a further 3-year term, taking it to 2006-2007. The project name was changed to support of "Cord Blood Research", removing the word 'Bank', as the type of research being carried out extended beyond the bounds of the Cord Blood Bank.

From the beginning, the Australian Cord Blood Foundation was very supportive of Inner Wheel. It was instrumental in helping to set up a committee to help with the assessment of the applications for the research grants. It was determined that a full research grant for 12 months was in the vicinity of $65 000 and applications were called for research projects to the value of
$65 000 or less.

IWA PP Robyn White with members of "The Hills" Club on "Coin for a Cord" Day 2004

Inner Wheel is indebted to people such as Dr Lam Po Tang, who first spoke to us about the value of cord blood. He explained that very little monetary support had been given in this area of research and that our support would be very important.

Professor Marcus Vowels and his team at the Australian Cord Blood Bank, situated at Randwick Children's Hospital in Sydney, helped with the setting up and promotion. Professor Vowels and the researchers in Sydney, along with the researchers at BMDI Cord Blood Bank in Melbourne, have made themselves available to speak at several fundraising efforts carried out by Inner Wheel members. The Cord Blood Banks in Sydney and Melbourne are open to visitors (by appointment) to see how cord blood is collected and stored.

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