By Gabriella Payne
It’s not every day that a fleet of Holden Toranas go driving through the streets of Pakenham, but the show-stopping cars took to the streets and made a very special journey on Sunday, in a bid to brighten the day of one very brave little boy.
Readers may remember two and a half year old Chaz Kelly and his family, who the Gazette featured a few weeks ago after the brave cancer battler’s special Starlight Foundation gift got lost in the post.
Well, Chaz and his family were treated to a day they won’t be forgetting any time soon on Sunday 11 July, as the Aussie Torana Legends Social Cruisers club came for a special drive-by visit to the little car lover’s house – and his reaction was absolutely priceless.
Colin Crane, the president of the ATLSC club said that he and fellow Pakenham resident Kelly Price had been inspired to do something for the Kelly family after reading little Chaz’s story and the hardships they had all been facing recently – and seeing as the little boy loved racing cars, what better way to brighten his spirits than with the real deal?
“Kelly and I got together and said, let’s do something, because we’ve got to try and help this family,” Mr Crane said, adding that, “as a club, we felt we had to do something”.
“So I organised all the cars, we had like six Toranas and four Holdens in total and we all met in Pakenham and then went round to their house,” he said.
“It was pretty emotional, meeting the family and Chaz, the little boy. It touched everyone’s hearts, it really did.”
After driving past a few times with Chaz and his family waving excitedly from their driveway, the 10 cars all lined up along the street and the little boy had a chance to sit in the driver’s seat of a real life ‘Lightning McQueen’, clearly having the time of his life.
Chaz’s mum, Sarah Kelly, said that it had been an “absolutely lovely” day that both he and his family would cherish for a long time to come.
“It was such a wonderful surprise for him after an extremely bad week,” Ms Kelly said.
“He still can’t wipe the smile off his face.”
After getting behind the wheel of a few of the cars, the ATLSC club took Chaz and his family out for lunch at the Cardinia Club on them, and passed a hat around between club members, raising an extra $400 cash for the young family, who had been in and out of hospital for Chaz’s treatments recently.
“It’s just human nature to try and do the right thing by people,” Mr Crane said, adding that the club would do it all over again just to see the look on little Chaz’s face.
“We were just really happy to help.”
