Phoebe Ryder raises funds for Mount Isa Hospital Auxiliary Club

The 21-year-old local nurse has entered this year's quest to raise funds for the Mount Isa Hospital Auxiliary Club and demonstrate to young people they can do anything they set their mind too.

Growing up in Mount Isa, Ms Ryder had always dreamed of entering the Community Quest, formally known as the Queen Quest, and said rodeo was a pinnacle point of her childhood.

"I have grown up with the rodeo every year, getting excited for the horses and family to come back for rodeo," she said.

"Also what was formally known as the Queen Quest was my favourite part of rodeo, because you would see these ladies flirting around the rodeo with all their gear on, but as I have grown up I've learnt the real reason behind the competition, raising much needed funds for our local community and I am excited to be doing that this year.

"Another reason I decided to do the quest at a young age, was to show other young people that when you put your mind to something you can do it, and they don't need to wait until they're older to do exciting things for our community."

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Having just competed her university degree of Nursing Science, Ms Ryder was looking for her next challenge and decided to tick the Community Quest off her bucket list.

"After graduation I thought there was never going to be a perfect time to enter the quest," she said.

"I am a true believer of there is never going to be a perfect time, you've just got to go and do it, so I thought this was my perfect opportunity to grab it with two hands and tick another thing off the bucket list.

"I had a few charities in mind when I initially started planning to enter the Quest, but in today's world where our healthcare system is under so much stress and pressure, I felt raising funds for the Mount Isa Hospital Auxiliary Club fit.

"Particularly as a community there is not much we can do to support the hospital side of things, but raising funds for the Auxiliary Club will support all the wards and the hospital, so instead of raising money for one ward it would be more beneficial to everyone to fundraise for all wards."

Ms Ryder has began her fundraising journey, commencing with a Valentine's Day raffle and she has a few other events in the works,

"We've had to cancel a few events on our list due to COVID-19 and not being able to run safe enough," she said,

"I do have a few more major events in the pipelines that will happen later in the year, in the meantime will have some wine nights, golf days, bar work and clean ups."

Ms Ryder said her favourite part of rodeo was the family aspect.

"I haven't competed myself but I have grown up with some of the family heavily involved in rodeo, but I think my favourite part of it is the family side," she said.

"At rodeo time all the family come home, I get to see my family compete and I get to see everyone come to our community and how much it benefits from the tourism.

"I love the whole week, it's something I've looked forward to each year and the three days of rodeo, family and community is great."

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