mmg.com.au

A girl who died from complications caused by her cerebral palsy late last year is being honoured with a fundraiser to fix Echuca’s hydrotherapy pool.

Kahli Sargent was 17 when she died in December and, before it was closed, she was a regular user of the pool as a student at Echuca Specialist School.

Her father, Darryl Sargent, is regular at the Tara’s Hall Hotel and after her death, Kahli’s name was put forward for the fundraising effort that had been going on at the pub for some weeks already.

The fundraising had been started when publicans Wayne ‘Cookie’ Koch and his wife Michelle heard people with disabilities and those undergoing rehabilitation were having to travel to Deniliquin or Kyabram.

So they started a ‘swear jar’ to raise money.

The jar, which sees offenders fined a gold coin, has been running for about four months.

Coupled with large donations from Macca’s Demolition, Echuca Hire and a generous punter known only as ‘Brownie’, customers have raised nearly $7000 to get the pool up and running again.

The Koch’s, who only took over the pub about seven months ago, have been impressed by the generosity of their patrons.

‘‘They’ve (the patrons) taken it on board really well,’’ Mr Koch said.

‘‘How we can’t have one (a hydro pool) has got me beat.’’

Mrs Koch said the swear jar had been wholeheartedly embraced by punters, adding that drinkers now ‘dob’ each other in and often pay more than the required gold coin.

Mr Sargent too, is happy to be part of the fundraising and lend his daughter’s name to the cause.

‘‘It’s a fantastic way to honour her,’’ he said.

Though the organisers realise they have more fundraising to go before the pool could be fixed, they were optimistic.

They are hoping the wider community will support their efforts with donations, particularly because the pool was used by a variety of different people in the community.

Anyone who is interested in donating towards their fundraising can contact the hotel on 54823055.