Courageous Cancer Survivor Wins Charity Raffle With a Single Ticket

A Brisbane Grandmother and courageous cancer survivor has been announced as the winner of a restored 1946 Ford Jailbar 4x4, raffled to raise funds for medical research.

The truck is the seventh to be raffled by Australia’s largest transport and logistics insurance specialists, NTI raising $483,000 for Motor Neurone Disease.

This year’s fundraising amount brings NTI’s total raised for Motor Neurone Disease research to more than $2.5 million over seven years. 

Alexandra Hills resident Beverly Smith was named the winner at the NTI Supercars round in Townsville earlier this month and was handed the keys to the restored 1946 Jailbar ‘Bonnie’.

As a vintage car enthusiast, Beverly was visiting the Cooly Rocks On Festival when she bought the single winning ticket.

After being diagnosed with cancer late last year, Beverly spent the beginning of 2024 in and out of hospital receiving treatment. Her visit to the festival was her first time out of the house in nine months.

“It’s completely changed our lives and bought a lot of happiness to the end of what has been not a very nice eight months for our family”.

Mrs Smith was overwhelmed with excitement when she received the call as the cause is extremely close to her heart.

“I lost my Mum to Motor Neurone Disease just over 20 years ago, so I just bought a ticket to support the MND and Me Foundation. Never in a million years did I expect to actually win it”.

“I was very excited, obviously overwhelmed and honestly still can’t believe I’ve won something as special as this – Bonnie is a beauty.”  

Beverly says she’s looks forward to taking Bonnie exploring with friends and family, and visiting local car shows.

NTI Chief Customer Officer Janelle Greene officially handed over the keys to the Smith family on Tuesday morning. 

“We are thrilled that Beverly, and her family are the new owners of ‘Bonnie’. After being through so much, they are so deserving, and we look forward to seeing ‘Bonnie’ again at all the car shows.”

“We were blown away that so many people took part in this year’s raffle. Just like Beverly, this cause is very important to us. To see the outpouring of community support to raise funds for this life-saving research is extremely heartwarming.” 

Find out more about Bonnie and our previous truck restorations for MND research.