The Gympie Music Muster has once again shown the true heart of its community, raising $141,780 for River’s Gift, the 2025 charity partner dedicated to funding medical research and raising awareness of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Patrons, volunteers and partners dug deep to deliver life-changing funds for this vital cause.
Gympie Music Muster CEO Greg Cavanagh said the Muster and its supporters made history with this total.
“The Muster has always been about giving back, and this year’s fundraising effort shows the amazing spirit of our patrons, volunteers and partners,” he said.
“From donuts to cans and auctions, every dollar raised makes a difference, and we’re proud to support River’s Gift in their mission. To raise more than $141,000 is fantastic, and I can confirm it is the single biggest donation the Muster has ever made to a charity partner from one festival.”
River’s Gift co-founders Karl Waddell and Alexandra Hamilton, who lost their son River at four-months-old, said they were “blown away’ by the generosity of the Muster and community groups after smashing the charity’s fundraising target of $110,000.
“We feel very privileged to be in front of an audience that may have not heard of us,” Alexandra said.
“When people spoke to us about SIDS and infant loss at the Muster, every conversation meant something. We have lived it. We desperately want SIDS to be eradicated, every Hope the Elephant plush toy bought and every tribute star placed on the donation wall really meant something to people.
“There is a nice light relief to what we do with Hope because the conversation is very heavy and having Hope the Elephant is a really lovely way for people to connect with our cause.”
Karl said so many people were touched by the charity’s cause as nothing pulled at the heart strings more than the loss of a child, which resonated with people and encouraged them to donate. He thanked the many volunteers and Muster staff involved.
“Having so many of our volunteers on the ground was vital and we really appreciate their efforts, particularly Liz and Ben Willcox, who were there from rope-off right through to Muster, spreading the word about River’s Gift, handing out can and bottle recycling bags and dressing in our human-sized Hope the Elephant mascot suit which made numerous appearances during the festival,” he said.
“Liz and Ben know the pain of losing a child to SIDS, as they lost their daughter Jasmyn at five-months-old, and their dedication to River’s Gift honours her memory in a powerful way.”
The success of the fundraising means up to 8000 Finding Hope books will be distributed through Queensland childcare centres to educate people in a light way about infant safe sleep practice and its importance to reducing the risk of SIDS.
“Particularly in rural areas, people may not have as much access to educational services about safe sleeping and SIDS, so they will now have access to a really lovely story and key safe sleep information,” Alexandra said.
Contributing to the funds was the Military Brotherhood MMC Cooloola–Sunshine Coast Inc., who sell donuts during the festival.
“I think it’s important to support every charity partner, but this one is pretty close to everybody’s heart because it’s all about kids,” Club President Moose said.
“Back in the day we were heavily involved with SIDS For Kids and River’s Gift is doing great work and we’re more than happy to get involved.”
The Military Brotherhood’s donuts have become a Muster institution, with queues for what many call the best donuts in the forest.
“They’re bloody famous! We donate 50 per cent of our donut sales each year to the Muster’s charity partner.,” he said.
Beyond the fundraising, Moose said the process of cooking and selling donuts has delivered profound benefits for veterans’ mental health.
“Instead of crowds making our PTSD veterans worse, it’s actually brought them out of their shells,” he said.
Container Exchange (COEX), the not-for-profit organisation that runs Containers for Change, spokesperson Joe Fitzgerald, congratulated Change Exchange and the Gympie Music Muster on the biggest container return event in the scheme’s history.
“Thanks to the incredible partnership between Change Exchange and Gympie Music Muster, more than 370,000 containers have been saved from landfill,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“The event is donating the 10-cent refund to SIDS charity River’s Gift, which demonstrates the true environmental, social and economic benefit of Queensland’s container refund scheme.”
Gympic Music Muster was serviced by local Containers for Change operator Change Exchange, which services events and commercial partners in addition to its two public container refund points at Coolum Beach and Beerwah.
General Manager Steve Cox said Change Exchange was proud to be the team behind Queensland’s largest container return event.
“We work with major events to help organisers turn container refunds into real impact — whether that’s offsetting costs, supporting local causes, or achieving sustainability goals,” Mr Cox said.
“It takes more than bins to make it happen. With our fleet, onsite management, and specialist crew, we make large-scale container recovery simple, fast and efficient.”
Applications for the 2026 charity partner will open on The Gympie Muster Website mid-November.
If this has raised any issues for you or you or someone you know needs support around infant or child loss, reach out to River’s Gift on riversgift.org or 1300 748 443.
