Friday is Daffodil Day and Te Puke will have volunteers out in force collecting for the Cancer Society’s annual appeal.
Last week clients and support workers from Arohanui Art and Education Trust were among the dozen or so people who volunteered to help Te Puke Daffodil Day co-ordinator Maria Moore pick daffodils that were sold in bunches of $10 to help with the fundraising effort.
The daffodils came from Damon and Christina Williams’ property.
“They donate thousands and thousands of fresh daffodils to the Cancer Society every year to help with our fundraising campaign,” says Waikato/Bay of Plenty appeal co-ordinator Alyson Bowker.
“This year the flowers bloomed exceptionally early, so we made the most of them but we are unlikely to have any for Daffodil Day, so we are looking for other growers who are willing to donate for next year as well to keep this tradition going.
“Without people like Damon and Christina, we wouldn’t have any fresh daffodils to share with people, so it is this sort of generosity that really goes a long way to helping raise funds for those on a cancer journey.”
On Friday there will be collection tables outside both Te Puke supermarkets, outside Sunny’s and outside Bobby’s Fresh Fish Market.
Among those helping will be students from Te Puke High School and Kiwicoast Lions members. Maria says more volunteers are always welcome, even if people want to put their hand up for next year so she has a bigger pool of volunteers to call on.
The Cancer Society Waikato/Bay of Plenty is seeking renewed public support amid a meteoric rise in the number of people using its services.
Arohanui Arts and Education Trust clients Sam, Jessie, Maxine, Jo and Sage with Te Puke Daffodil Day co-ordinator Maria Moore and support workers Lauda (far left), and Gena (far right).
“The number of new clients we are actively supporting has grown by 154 per cent over the past year and we are expecting to see demand for our services grow,” says Dr Heather Connolly, who has recently been appointed the Cancer Society’s head of philanthropy.
“Cancer currently affects one in three New Zealanders and modelling shows that cancer rates will double by 2040. But we need support to be there for them. We are urging the public to get behind us any way they can this August as we approach Daffodil Day.”
Daffodil Day is the Cancer Society’s largest fundraiser.
“We are putting the call out for the community to back us by donating, holding a fundraiser or volunteering on a street collection site. We are also asking that anyone with an abundance of daffodils growing on their land to consider donating them to our street appeal. We’d love to see August turn yellow with support.”
The Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge in Hamilton, which provides accommodation, meals and a shuttle to Waikato Hospital, has also experienced a surge, providing 16,025 bed nights to people from the Waikato area and further afield in the last year.
Heather says a cancer diagnosis is life-changing and that accessing the Cancer Society’s free services can make a noticeable difference to someone’s cancer journey.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty and for some there is fear. Being able to lean on one of our nurses for guidance and support can help relieve some of that stress. By taking someone to their treatment or giving them the Lodge to stay at in Hamilton, we can alleviate some of the financial burden, giving them time to focus on their healing.”
Volunteers picked daffodils and put them into bunches at Damon and Christina Williams’ property last week.
The Cancer Society is not directly government-funded. Its free services are open to anyone with cancer and their whānau, and include accommodation, meals and shuttle service at the Lions Lodge, transport to treatment, support groups, guidance from an experienced nurse, access to counselling, massage and more.
The Cancer Society is also the largest private funder of cancer research in New Zealand with donations supporting ground-breaking cancer research at the Cancer Society Research Centre and further afield across New Zealand.
Over the past financial year, Cancer Society Waikato/Bay of Plenty has supported people with cancer in our region in these ways thanks to the overwhelming generosity of the community:
■ 11,525: the number of times our supportive care nurses were there to provide advice, information, advocacy and support to someone with cancer or their whānau.
■ 113,950: the number of kilometres driven by volunteers transporting people to treatment
■ 2,574: the number of guests at the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge
