By Clare BruceThursday 6 Oct 2016Hope BreakfastSocial JusticeReading Time: 2 minutes
Listen: Sam Robinson chats with Ping Pong-AThon’s Debbie Bollinger.
It was a unique moment in breakfast radio when Hope 103.2’s Sam Robinson broke out the ping pong bats, to do battle against his interview guest, Debbie Bollinger.
Their on-air duel (watch below) was in aid of the Ping Pong-AThon – an annual event held across Australia and open to all ages, raising funds to fight human trafficking and sex slavery.
Debbie, one of the Ping Pong-AThon’s organisers, explained that the ‘Pong’ (as it’s affectionately known) was founded by Adrian Rowse, after he spent time in Thailand working with boys and young men who’d been rescued from sex work.
“Adrian worked with the bar boys and found that when they played ping pong it was a great leveller – they could just have fun together,” she said.
On his return to Australia, Adrian Rowse decided to continue the tradition in a bid to raise funds for a range of anti-trafficking organisations like International Justice Mission and Destiny Rescue. This year the event is expected to raise $400,000.
Play Ping Pong for 3 Hours or More
The Ping Pong-AThon is a 24-hour event, however participants who register only have to participate for three hours – with breaks.
There’s 80 venues hosting events around Australia throughout October, with those close to Sydney including Chatswood, Springwood, Thornleigh, Bowral, Erina and Wollongong.
St Johns Anglican Church at Ashfield is hosting an event this Friday night to Saturday morning, while Northridge Vineyard Church at Thornleigh has its event from Saturday night to Sunday.
If you can’t get to a venue, you can go online to ‘Globalvenue’, and get sponsored to play ping pong with a friend at a desk at work or the kitchen table at home.
Find out more at www.pingpongathon.com.