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Ms ADDISON (Wendouree) (09:47:49): I wish to congratulate Nick Locandro for his outstanding charity work to raise money and awareness of dementia in Ballarat.

Recently Nick, Jamie Huggett and Jeremy Cowan rode the 1000km Mawson Trail in South Australia to raise money for dementia.

This was a very challenging ride, but was deliberately was chosen by Nick because individuals suffering with dementia face physical and mental challenges every day.

This is was the second Ride to Remember, after Nick, Jamie and Jarrod King rode the 2300km from Uluru to Ballarat last year, and raised close to $40,000. Equally importantly it raised awareness in our community about young onset dementia.

Nick chose Uluru as a place to start the 2018 Ride to Remember because it was where his family had their last holiday together with his dad Sam, who died with early on-set dementia in 2017.

All fundraising from the Ride to Remember feeds directly into new Ballarat-based charity “This is Dementia”, a not-for-profit registered charity formed with fellow young dementia champions Meg Curnow and Brittany Rose, which focuses on raising awareness and increasing knowledge about dementia.

“This is Dementia” is working to change the stigma surrounding the disease and highlighting its far-reaching impacts on family and friends.

I encourage members of the community to get behind this important cause and congratulate everyone involved for their efforts.

Click here to read more of my contributions in Parliament. To access further Hansard transcripts, head to the Parliament of Victoria website.