Ryan Gair, the CEO of self-employed lending specialist Rate Money, is taking part in this year’s CEO Dare to Cure 2022 by laying in a bath full of snakes.
Now in its fifth year, the CEO Dare to Cure is a fundraiser with a difference, designed for CEOs and business leaders to take on nerve-racking dares to help raise money to find a cure for childhood cancer.
The 2022 event takes place on September 16 in Sydney and October 14 in Melbourne, with hundreds of CEOs taking part. On September 16, Gair (pictured above) will be taking on “the snake bath challenge” – laying in a bath covered in snakes.
Gair said he was discussing the event internally with his team and he heard the statistic that 20 children per week in Australia were diagnosed with cancer.
“I honestly couldn’t believe it. Children are supposed to be playing with their friends and having fun, not worrying about being sick and going to the doctors every day,” Gair said.
“It broke my heart thinking of my own children and how I would feel having any of them sick or having them go through chemotherapy. It was really a no-brainer from there, I knew I needed to take part and help raise money for the cause.”
Read next: We haven’t forgotten who our customers are: CEO on Rate Money’s meteoric rise
Gair said after reading about CEO Dare to Cure 2022, it “blew him out of the water”.
“As a father, it means everything to me that there are some really amazing people putting everything into ending this disease in kids,” he said.
“I didn’t know much about The Children’s Cancer Institute prior to partaking in this year’s event. Since signing up, I’ve learnt the amazing story of how two families, both with children diagnosed with cancer in 1975, decided to come together with a target of raising $1 million. However, they raised significantly more and opened their first research centre not long after.
“Since then, they now have over 300 employees, have made world-first discoveries, become an international leader in personalised medicine for children with cancer and directly contributed to improving survival rates. Just 60 years ago, cancer for children was a death sentence, now eight out of 10 children survive.”
Read next: Finance leaders help raise over $9 million for charity
Gair said so far, he has managed to raise $13,605, with the aim of raising $50,000 by September 16.
“I’m extremely grateful for the contributions made so far and urge anyone who can to dig deep and donate to such a tremendous cause,” he said.
“Anybody who is in the financial industry knows that we are part of an amazing industry that tends to pay quite well. If everyone donated a small amount of your next commission, next pay or whatever it might be, people would be surprised just how far that donation would go to helping end childhood cancer.
“I also would like to take this opportunity to urge other CEOs to get involved. It’s not too late – you still have two weeks to raise awareness and raise some funds.”
You can donate to support Gair here: CEO Dare to Cure – Ryan Gair
