Midwest Charity Begins at Home 2022 gala auction headlined by signed Patrick Cripps jumper

The Midwest Charity Begins at Home gala auction will have a very special item up for grabs this year, courtesy of a homegrown 2022 Brownlow medallist.

Northampton’s Patrick Cripps and his family have been generous long-time supporters of the charity’s big auction, donating a signed jumper back in 2019.

This year however they have gone one better, kindly donating a 2022 Carlton jumper signed by the Brownlow Medal winner himself.

The Carlton captain polled 29 votes to win the Brownlow Medal by one vote from Brisbane’s Lachie Neale earlier this month.

Fresh off the historic win, Cripps jumper made the trip from Melbourne this week, touching down in Geraldton on Tuesday.

In a social media post, Cripps encouraged everyone to get behind the charity. “Hopefully everyone gets down, digs deep and hopefully raises a fair bit of money for a great cause. Good luck to everyone,” he said.

On November 5, the prized piece will be auctioned at the Mitchell and Brown Retravision Midwest Charity Begins At Home’s annual gala dinner fundraiser, with the theme for 2022 being “Wanderlust”. It’s the first gala event the charity is staging since 2019, with the last two years of COVID restrictions forcing organisers into holding an online auction.

Midwest Charity Begins at Home board member Andrew Horstman said it was great to have the support of the Cripps family.

“You think of the timing of it, for Paddy to go on and win the Brownlow, that just so happened to coincide with the upcoming gala I think it’s just brilliant,” he said.

Midwest Charity Begins at Home provides financial relief to residents affected by serious illness.

Since its inception 15 years ago, the charity has raised more than $2.5 million to help hundreds of families across the Mid West.