One bunny and a swag of volunteers spread joy in the lead up to Easter at Alino Living

More than 100 Alino Living residents 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.

In what is a long-standing Mounties Group annual Easter tradition, this initiative spread joy amongst residents across Alino Living’s five residential aged care facilities – Lake Haven Court, Killarney Court, Vietnam Veterans Keith Payne VC Hostel, Rumbalara House and Adelene Court.

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 treats and gifts.

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.

“The Mounties Group 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,” explained Kain Barnett, Marketing Executive for Mounties Group’s Central Coast venues.

“The 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,” he added.

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.

“Mounties 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.

“Fundraising 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,” explained Mounties Group CEO Dale Hunt.

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.

“Our 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.

“It’s 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,” concluded Dale.

Alino Living’s co-CEO Justin Dover shared this sentiment, commenting “This initiative spread so much joy across our facilities and is something I know the residents will be talking about for weeks.”