In September this year, a young dad called Luke Toki, from Baldivis in Western Australia, proved himself to be the ‘People’s Champion’ when he didn’t win the season of Australian Survivor.
It broke the hearts of Australian Survivor fans around the country when Luke bombed out of the immunity challenge and his chance at the $500,000 prize in the following night’s finale.
Luke had joined ‘Survivor’ for the second time in two years, hoping to win the prize money to support his young family. His sons Nate and Lennox are both on the autism spectrum and require expensive therapy sessions and his newborn daughter Madeleine was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis just weeks before he left for filming in Fiji. She will require expensive ongoing treatment and medication.
Dave Skow, the broker owner of RE/MAX Elite in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and an Australian Survivor fan, set up a Go Fund Me page after Luke’s devastating exit from the competition. It was to become the fastest Go Fund Me campaign in Australian history
Incredibly, in less than three days, it had attracted more than $550,000 from supporters.
Inside a week, Dave posted this message on https://www.gofundme.com/f/luke-toki-australias-true-survivor:
Hi all,
In what will be the last update for this Go Fund Me page, Luke & Mary have put together this video to say thanks.
To all 16,000+ donors, you should all be very proud! This has been a life changing undertaking for the Toki family.
Thanks again for all of your well-wishes and messages of support over the past week. This has been a tremendous effort which has yielded an astounding result.
Take care, Dave
After the amount raised passed the half a million-dollar mark, Dave announced that the donations had been stopped on Luke and Mary Loki’s request.
“They decided they didn’t want to take anything more after seeing how much had been raised and were overwhelmed by the kindness of the people donating. As they said, all those people have their own goals and their own bills.
“They are just extremely grateful to people for giving their children such a good start in life,” Dave said.
If Luke Toki is the People’s Champion and survivor, Dave Skow is undeniably a true hero.
Contact Dave Skow at RE/MAX Elite on +61 407 419 175. Email dave.skow@remax.com.au