Kim Taylor, a retired dancing teacher and the founder of Ipswich Combined Teachers Dance Festival (ICTDF), donates $20,000 to Ipswich Hospital Foundation (IHF).
ICTDF is a group-only dance festival that runs once a year. Kim and her family started ICTDF 20 years ago to create a dance competition in Ipswich so that local kids didn’t need to travel as far for dance competitions.
Kim opened up about how hard it was to start off as a non-for-profit organisation. Kim and her family did everything themselves from printing tickets to cutting up seasonal passes.
She mentioned that the first five years’ were really hard to keep the money coming in. “With a little idea from Janine, one of the teachers, over 21 years ago and the support from the local Council, ICTDF has now turned into a 6-day Group Dance Festival that involves thousands of dancers each year”.
In 2021 Kim thought that COVID would shut everything down. So, to celebrate the ICTDF’s 20th anniversary, instead of doing a big dance competition, they decided to give the money to the Ipswich Hospital because they want the money to stay in our community.
When asked if there was a specific reason she chose the Emergency Department at Ipswich Hospital, Kim replied, “The hospital always looks after the dancers. We have a dance teacher who used to suffer from asthma, and she had to come up to the hospital a couple of times a year. I always hear good responses saying she got good service from the hospital”.
“As we celebrate 20 years, we are very excited to be able to give $20,000 to the Ipswich Hospital Foundation. We thought Ipswich Hospital Foundation is where the money needed to go.”
As the official Hospital Foundation of the West Moreton region, IHF aims to establish a thriving West Moreton community in which people experience the best possible health and wellbeing. It provides support right through the region from Ipswich to Boonah, Gatton, Laidley, Esk, and more.
IHF relies on kind donations like ICTDF to best support West Moreton Health to deliver safe, quality healthcare to the local community.
To find out how you can give back to the community through a donation to your local public hospital, visit: https://www.ihfoundation.org.au or visit the Ipswich Hospital Foundation office at Level 2 Hayden Centre, 37 South Street, Ipswich.
