Aaron's Wish raises $43,500

The event was named in memory of former Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) employee, Aaron Iori, who died from brain cancer early last year.

Mr Iori was a former operations manager of the National Livestock Reporting Service and then, from 2006, the manager of the National Livestock Identification System, before taking on a MLA regional manager role for South East Asia and Greater China.

In this role he played an important part in the transitioning of beef into Chinese cuisine, in particular banqueting, an area beef had previously seldom been used.

His former colleagues from MLA, although unable to attend, supported the event by booking a table at $200 a seat, a welcome contribution to the overall funds raised by a crowd of 170 guests.

GALLERY:click on the image above for more photos

Organised by his parents, Michael and Kim, the fundraiser was attended by guests from as far afield as Albury, Melbourne and Singapore.

However, the crowd was predominantly locals from across the Sydney region, including family and friends and those impacted by cancer.

The MLA table made it possible to allow families who had been impacted by brain cancer to attend the dinner.

"We want to make people feel welcome," Mrs Iori said.

She said the event came about following discussions with her son before his death, Aaron having previously written to ministers of the day to raise awareness of the otherwise complete lack of support for research into the disease.

"He was a doer," Mrs Iori said of Aaron.

"A lot of people don't want to talk about (brain cancer) because it's not a good outcome story."

Guest speaker for the evening was Dr Geraldine O'Neill, an associate professor who leads a team at the Kids Research Institute at Westmead Hospital, Sydney.

She raised the facts that eight out of children below the age of 10 who are diagnosed with brain cancer don't survive the disease.

Plus, the statistics reveal the past 10 years have shown no improvement on the previous decade in terms of survival rates, hence the need for research support.

After this year's success, the Ioris, along with the Cancer Council and ANZ Bank, which provided volunteers to help run the event, plan to move to a venue which can accommodate as many as 300 guests.

Michael Iori said this would be big enough to allow more people who wished to attend to do so, but without losing the event's intimate feeling.

This year's sponsors included Victor Churchill Meats, Rangers Valley Feedlot, Manning Foods, Regal Seafoods, Ask The Butcher, Monument Vineyard, from Cudal, The Australian Brewery, at Rouse Hill, Alto Olives, plus a number of other local businesses.

The overall funds raised also included the proceeds from a slient auction, which contributed $6615, and proceeds from the Victor Churchill/Rangers Valley/Ask The Butcher prize.

The prize included a beef cooking class at Victor Churchill and a 30 kilogram Wagyu meat pack valued at more than $3000.

This was won by Annabelle Andrews, Pitt Town, and raised more than $7000.

Visit the Aaron's Wish Facebook page at www.facebook.com/aarons.wish.1 or email the charity at aaronswish@bigpond.com.