LOCAL LIFE
ONE OF THE HILLS FINEST...
Ruth and her family at the rally for the Cancer Council. by Lorna Gordon
I first spoke to Ruth back in 2020, when lockdowns and covid were still very much part of our day to day life. Things look very different now and Ruth’ s life has changed too, she has retired from work and is enjoying a slower pace of life and travelling round Australia with her husband. One thing that hasn’ t changed too much for Ruth is her passions for volunteering and giving back to the community.
Ruth’ s volunteering journey began in 2004 when a close friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. After witnessing her friend’ s difficult treatment and eventual remission, Ruth joined Relay for Life and soon began volunteering with the Cancer Council. Over the years she has supported countless families and contributed to the organisation’ s mission to not only fund cancer research, but to provide the practical support people desperately need.
For many years, Relay for Life was one of Ruth’ s major volunteer commitments, but she has now proudly passed the baton to her daughter, who has taken over leading the Hills event. She is still involved in the committee and helping with the organisation, but the heavy lifting has been passed on.
“ She’ s doing a wonderful job,” Ruth says.“ It feels special to see her continue that legacy.”
Another long-running project close to Ruth’ s heart is the Cancer Council gift-wrapping service at Castle Towers. Ruth began as part of the committee in 2005 and took on the coordinating role in 2015. As well as doing the Christmas wrapping Ruth helped to grow the service to include Mother’ s day and Father’ s day gift wrapping, expanding the fundraising to these other popular dates on the calendar. She was proud to tell me that over the ten years she was running the fundraising, they raised over $ 250,000 for Cancer Council.
Like the Relay for Life, Ruth has passed the baton on with being in charge of this event, but she is still heavily involved. She will be working along side other volunteers from 1 – 24 December outside the LEGO store at Castle Towers to wrap gifts in exchange for a gold coin donation. Last year they raised $ 29,000 for the charity, which is a substantial number of gifts when you consider it’ s a gold coin donation for each one wrapped!
Castle Towers generously supplies all the wrapping materials so that every dollar raised goes directly to supporting cancer patients with transport, accommodation, bill assistance, and other essential services.
“ People don’ t realise how many families are struggling,” Ruth explains.“ We have patients who travel two to four hours for treatment. The funds we raise go towards the some of unseen costs of getting cancer treatments, helping with fuel costs or giving someone a place to stay in Sydney can make a massive difference.”
While Ruth may not be there every day this year, she is thankful that the volunteers she has worked with over the years are still onboard and giving up their time to help others.
“ I’ m not there every day anymore, but the team is incredible. They always show up— they’ re the reason we raised $ 29,000 last Christmas alone.”
Ruth continues to serve on the Relay for Life committee and supports events whenever she can, staying connected with the community and encouraging others to get involved.“ People want to help; sometimes they just need to know how.”
Outside of her cancer-related work, Ruth has also devoted many years to the Hills District Tennis Association. Her daughters grew up playing tennis, and Ruth wanted to give something back to the
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6 ISSUE 126 // DECEMBER 2025 MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS! theindependentmagazine. com. au THE HILLS INDEPENDENT